1588 – S. Munster – Asia

Title:                      “Asia wie es Jetziger Zeit nach den Furnemesten Herrschafften Abgetheilet und Beschriben ist.​”​
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Description:
Decorative Munster’s final map of Asia, from a German edition of Munster’s Cosmographia, one of the most influential geographical works of the 16th Century.  This is what is generally considered the second Munster map of Asia, published by Henrich Petri in 1588. Following the model established by Ortelisu’s 1567 Asiae Nova Descriptio this map covers from the Mediterranean to Japan and from the Arctic to Java. Relife is renedered in profile and numerous towns and cities are noted. Sumatra is identified as Taprobana. Japan appears in its kite-form and is based upon Jesuit sources. The great rivers of Southeast Asia, the Mekong, Chao Phraya, Irrawaddy, and Brahmaputra, are drawn as originating from a large lake in the mountains of what is today northern Thailand – no doubt a precursor of the apocryphal lake of Chiamay. The islands of east Indies, collectively identified here as the ‘Moluccos,’ are vaguely rendered but recognizable.​
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Cartographer:      Sebastian Munster​ (1488 – 1552)
Sheet size:           44 x 38 cm
Year:                     1588
Technique:           woodblock

Condition:
Very good condition! Foxing. Middle fold as issued. German text on verso. Paper with original watermark.
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This is a genuine antique map published in 1588 and not a modern copy or reprint!