1488-1552
 |
| Sebastian Münster |
Sebastian Münster was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and
Hebrew scholar whose Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the
earliest German description of the world and a major work - after the
Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493 - in the revival of geographic thought in
16th-century Europe. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographia
appeared during 1544-1628. Although other cosmographies predate
Münster's, he is given first place in historical discussions of this
sort of publication, and was a major influence on his subject for over
200 years.
In nearly all works about Münster, his Cosmographia
is given pride of place. Despite this, we still lack a detailed survey
of its contents from edition to edition, during the years 1544 to 1628,
and an account of its influence on a wide range of scientific
disciplines. Münster obtained the material for his book in three ways.
He used all available literary sources. He tried to obtain original
manuscript material for description of the countryside and of villages
and towns. Finally, he obtained further material on his travels
(primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace).
Cosmographia contained not only the latest maps and views of many
well-known cities, but included an encyclopaedic amount of detail about
the known - and unknown - world and undoubtedly must have been one of
the most widely read books of its time.
Aside from the well-known
maps and views present in the Cosmographia, the text is thickly
sprinkled with vigorous woodcuts: portraits of kings and princes,
costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters
and horrors.
The 1614 and 1628 editions of Cosmographia are divided into nine
books. Nearly all the sections, especially those dealing with history,
were enlarged. Descriptions were extended, additional places included,
errors rectified.
Click here to see maps published by Münster.
Content, 1544-1598 Editions
Book I
Astronomy, Mathematics, Physical Geography, Cartography
Book II
England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Savoy, Trier, Italy
Book III
Germany, Alsace, Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, Istria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Pomerania, Prussia, Livland
Book IV
Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Walachia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey
Book V
Asia Minor, Cyprus, Armenia, Palestine, Arabia, Persia, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Scythia, Tartary, India, Ceylon, Burma, China, East Indies, Madagascar, Zanzibar, America
Book VI
Mauritania, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, South Africa, East Africa
Editions of Cosmographia
German : 1544, 1546, 1548, 1550, 1553, 1556, 1558, 1561, 1564, 1567, 1569, 1572, 1574, 1578, 1588, 1592, 1598, 1614, 1628
Latin : 1550, 1552, 1554, 1559, 1572
French : 1552, 1556, 1560, 1565, 1568, 1575
Italian : 1558, 1575
Czech : 1554
Dictionary of map makers
An illustrated list of makers of maps, charts and globes from the earliest time of cartography to present.
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