MÜNSTER, New Griechenland, circa 1550.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552), “New Griechenland mit anderen anstossenden Länder wie es zu unsern Zeiten beschrieben ist”, woodcut, map of Greece and Türkiye, from an edition of Cosmographiae Universalis, c. 155O. On verso with woodcut.
Leaf: 28.3 x 36.3-37.7 cm.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer and cosmographer and professor of Hebrew at the University of Basel. His “Cosmographia” (1544) was the first German description of the world and a pioneering work for the revival of interest in geography in 16th-century Europe. As early as 1540 he had published a Latin edition of Ptolemy's “Geographia” illustrated with woodcuts, including 27 maps by Ptolemy and 21 maps drawn by Münster himself. The work came out in around 40 editions, of which the one from 1550 is the most lavish containing also cityscapes, portraits and illustrations of costumes.