DAS KUNIGREICH ENGELLAND

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Early, attractive unusual woodcut map of England, oriented to the East. Sebastian Munster's map was the first separately printed map of England and a landmark in the history of British maps. The map represents a major improvement over previous maps of the region and mentioned many cities for the first time. At the upper left is a key to the Latin and English place names. The flags of England and Scotland are shown. The title on verso is surrounded by a beautiful woodcut border. From the German edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmography, titled Cosmographey oder beschreibung aller Länder, published by Heinrich Petri in Basel. The woodblock of this map was used first in Münster's Geographia Universalis in 1540.

Excellent hand colour

Very good condition.

code : M4273

Cartographer : Sebastian Munster

Date : 1542 / + Basel

Size : 25*34.5 cms sheet 35.5*40.5 cms

availability : Sold

Price : Sold

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Originally a scholar studying Hebrew, Greek and mathematics, Sebastian Munster (1489-1552) eventually specialised in mathematical geography and cartography. It was this double ability - as a classicist and mathematician - that was to prove invaluable when Munster set himself to preparing new editions of Solinus’ “Memorabilia” and Mela’s “De Situ Orbis”, two classical descriptive geographies containing maps, and his own two greatest works, the “Geographia” and “Cosmographia”. These reflect the widespread interest in classical texts, which were being rediscovered in the fifteenth century, and being disseminated in the later fifteenth and sixteenth century, through the new medium of printing.

The “Geographia” was a translation of Ptolemy’s landmark geographical text, compiled in about 150 AD., illustrated with maps based on Ptolemy’s calculations, but also, in recognition of the increased geographical awareness, contains a section of modern maps. In the first edition of the “Geographia”, Munster included 27 ancient Ptolemaic maps and 21 modern maps, printed from woodblocks. Subsequent editions of the “Cosmographia” were to contain a vast number of maps and plans.

One consequence of Munster’s work was the impetus it gave to regional mapping of Germany, but Munster was also the first cartographer to produce a set of maps of the four continents on separate maps. Most importantly, through his books (the “Geographia” and “Cosmographia” alone ran to over forty editions in six languages), Munster was responsible for diffusing the most up-to-date geographical information throughout Europe.