Bidspirit auction | Munster, pub. 1578 - View

Munster, pub. 1578 - View of Cairo, Egypt - This very old woodcut is from Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia Universalis or Cosmographey: das ist Beschreibung aller Lander [...] The work was published in Basel in 1578 by Heinrich Petri. The work was a massive chronicle of all the geographical knowledge of the world to that point. The work included world maps as well as views of smaller cities and woodcut illustrations of historical subjects, mythology, natural history and ethnography. It was the first work to show America in its ”correct” continental form and ”sealed the fate of 'America' as the name of the New World.” (Burden 12) Sebastian Munster (1489-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and a Hebrew scholar. He also became a Franciscan monk at an early age. Munster's Cosmographia was the first work of scientific based knowledge in the German language. Paper Size: ~ 16 1/4” by 13 1/4” (Fold Out) Paper Type or Special Features: Engraving