Munster, Sebastian “La descrizzion della nazion Germanica" From "Cosmographia”

Sebastian Munster. “La descrizzion della nazion Germanica.”

Cologne: Arnoldo Byrckmanno, [1540-]1575. 10 x 13 ½. Woodcut.  Full margins. Fine impression. Very good condition.

A woodcut map of Germany by Sebastian Munster (1489-1552) from the sixteenth century.  Munster was one of the greatest cartographers in the era before the Dutch “modern” cartographers such as Mercator and Ortelius, and he issued many influential maps in his editions of Ptolemy’s Geographia and his own Cosmographia.  This map of Germany is typical of his excellent work.  Topographical detail is surprisingly copious, with data on cities, regions, mountains and rivers abundant and of considerable historic interest.  The information can be contrasted with that found in Munster’s Ptolemaic map of ancient Germany done at the same time.