MUNSTER, Sebastian (1489-1552).
Cosmographey, das ist, Beschreibung aller Länder, Herrschafften und fürnemesten Stetten des gantzen Erdbodens
Cosmography: that is, description of all countries...
Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1598.
With 26 double-page pretext maps, 69 double-page views, maps and plans, many within ornamental woodcut borders, approx. 1250 woodcuts in the text , woodcut head-pieces and printer's device at end, large gothic initials.
title printed in red and black with woodcut portrait of the author,
Second edition with the renewed stock of woodcut maps.
In the 1580s Sebastian Henricpetri, the son of Münster's son-in-law and first printer, Heinrich Petri, was obliged to invest in commissioning a new series of woodblocks of the maps and views illustrating Münster's ever-popular survey and chronicle of the world. These appeared in the 1588 and succeeding editions. Although most differ little from their models, those showing the New World had to be drastically revised: the modern world map and the map of the Americas (Burden 58), both copied after Ortelius' 1570 maps by an unknown engraver, give a far more accurate though still not up-do-date depiction of the Americas than the primitive maps used in the 1544-1578 editions.
Alden & Landis 598/73; Burmeister 83; Sabin 51395.
German text
14 sheets, 1461 pages, 1 sheet
Folio.
Size 9 1/2 by 13 3/4" (35 x 22.5 cm.)
Thickness 5 3/4"
Original blind-embossed pigskin binding over wooden boards with 1 clasp (of 2)
With the two world maps as well as maps of America, Asia, Africa, Europe, the European and German-speaking countries, the course of the Rhine in 3 sheets etc.
Among the numerous views of Augsburg, Besancon, Bordeaux, Chur, Cusco , Florence, Jerusalem, Cologne, Koblenz, Cairo, Constantinople, London, Rome, Venice, Wurzburg.
Lacks part of the folding panorama of Vienna and Heidelberg
Some toning, wear, a few pages with marginal damage, some reinforced with manuscript waste, title mounted. a few small tears repaired with archival tape

From Wikipedia:
The Cosmographia ("Cosmography") from 1544 by Sebastian Munster (1488–1552) is the earliest German-language description of the world.
It also contains the earliest preserved text in the Latvian language.
It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French (translated by François de Belleforest), Italian and Czech. Only extracts have been translated into English. The last German edition was published in 1628, long after Munster's death.
The Cosmographia was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century.
This success was due to the notable woodcuts (some by Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel).
It was most important in reviving geography in 16th-century Europe.
Among the notable maps within Cosmographia is the map "Tabula novarum insularum", which is credited as the first map to show the American continents as geographically discrete.
the content consisted of:
Book I: Astronomy, Mathematics, Physical Geography, Cartography
Book II: England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Savoy, Trier, Italy
Book III: Germany, Alsace, Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, Istria, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, Pomerania, Prussia, Livland
Book IV: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Walachia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Turkey
Book V: Asia Minor, Cyprus, Armenia, Palestine, Arabia, Persia, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Scythia, Tartary, India, Ceylon, Burma, China, East Indies, Madagascar, Zanzibar, America
Book VI: Mauritania, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, South Africa, East Africa

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552)
Sebastian Münster, a German geographer, cartographer, Hebraist, and theologian, was born in Ingelheim, near Mainz In 1505, he went to Heidelberg to enter the Franciscan order. In 1507 he went to Louvain, where he studied mathematics, geography, and astronomy. In 1509 Münster became a student of Konrad Pelikan, who taught Hebrew and Greek as well as mathematics and cosmography. In 1518 he completed his studies at the University of Tübingen. He was the favorite of the famous mathematician and astronomer Johann Stöffler.
In 1524 Münster was appointed professor of Hebrew at Heidelberg University. In 1525 he published his first map as part of a broadside: The Instrument of the Suns combined a map, calendar, astrological almanac, sundial, and nocturnal on one attractive sheet, suitable for wall mounting.
In 1540 he published a Latin edition of Ptolemy's Geographia with illustrations. He based this edition on the Latin translation by Willibald Pirkheimer and produced new maps to supplement the Ptolemaic maps. The twenty-seven maps of the Ptolemaic canon are supplemented by twenty-one new maps. Further editions appeared in 1541 and 1542.
In 1544 he published the Cosmographia, a bulky book with 659 pages and some 520 woodcuts. Maps in this edition included three maps from the Ptolemaic canon and fourteen modern maps (from previous editions of the Geographia), as well as nine new maps. Later editions (1545, 1546, 1548) enlarged the Cosmographia. The 1550 edition contains cities, portraits, and costumes. These editions in both Latin and German constitute the full fruition of Münster's dream of a comprehensive geography.
The Cosmographia was one of the most successful works of the 16th century. It passed through 24 editions in 100 years, in different languages, including Latin, French, Italian, English, and even Czech. The last German edition was published in 1628.
He died at Basel of the plague in 1552.
As a cartographer, Münster deserves special recognition for formulating a plan for a comprehensive and uniform map of a country.
As a geographer, his greatest achievement was the Cosmographia. (Karrow).



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