1552 – S. Munster – Europa Prima Nova Tabula
1,800 €
Title: “Europa Prima Nova Tabula”
(Europe: the first new map)
Description:
One of the earliest printed maps of Europe as a continent, very rare issue, from Sebastian Münster’s Latin edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia, published in Basel by Heinrich Petri. Münster added a set of “new”, modern maps to Ptolemy’s ancient ones, and this is the first of them: a general map of Europe.
The map is drawn with south at the top, following the German regional maps Münster relied on. It also derives from Martin Waldseemüller’s very rare road map of Europe of 1511. It runs from Spain and Portugal, with Africa just visible at the top right, to Constantinople and Greece on the left. At the bottom are England, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark and the Baltic coast. Eastern Europe is unusually detailed for its date. Poland, Lithuania, Samogitia, Prussia, Livonia, Masovia, Volhynia and Podolia are all named, with Kraków and Danzig marked. Mountains are drawn as rope-like chains, forests as clusters of trees and towns as small views, and a large sailing ship crosses the Bay of Biscay.
On the back, inside a woodcut border attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger, is Münster’s Latin introduction to Europe. The border shows scholars with an armillary sphere, quadrant and dividers, with coats of arms and a trophy of arms below. The text praises Europe as a land “exceptionally fertile, with a temperate climate and a mild sky”. It is “adorned with the most beautiful cities, castles, villages and hamlets”, and its peoples are so excellent “that it far surpasses Asia or Africa, however much larger those lands are”. It then describes the Danube dividing the east of the continent, with Germany, Hungary, Poland and Muscovy on one side and Illyria, Dalmatia, Thrace, Macedonia and Greece on the other.
Sebastian Münster (1488–1552), Hebrew scholar and cosmographer in Basel, first published his Geographia in 1540. Further editions followed in 1541, 1542, 1545 and 1552. From 1544 the same block was also used in his Cosmographia.
Cartographer: Sebastian Munster (1488 – 1552)
Publisher: Heinrich Petri, Basel
Leaf size: 38,8 x 32,0 cm
Year: 1552
Technique: woodcut
Condition:
Very good, original, condition.
This is an original antique map published in 1552 and NOT a modern copy or reprint
On your request we will provide a Certificate of Authenticity.
In stock
