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1550 / 1572 Sebastian Münster View of his home city of Basel, Switzerland
Basel-munster-1550$200.00
Title
Basiliensis civitatis contrafactura, adumbrata ad genuinum eius situm, quem anno 1549, habuit.
1550 (undated) 10.5 x 13.75 in (26.67 x 34.925 cm)
1550 (undated) 10.5 x 13.75 in (26.67 x 34.925 cm)
Description
Sebastian Münster's lively and remarkably accurate woodcut bird's-eye view of Basel, Switzerland's old town as it stood in 1549, is the earliest acquirable map of that city. It is preceded only by the view appearing in the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle. Münster's work is particularly significant, as it is a representation of the mapmaker's home city.
Although not marked on the map, Münster's home at Number 11 Münsterplatz would have been one of the houses indicated directly south (that is, above) the Basler Munster: a central location!
A Closer Look
The map is oriented to the south, with the Illustrations of boats in the Rhine indicating its flow from left to right. The Birs River can be seen flowing into the Rhine from the upper left corner: as this tributary meets the Rhine from the southeast of the city, this is an important cue for the reader. The city, northwest of the confluence of the Rhine and the Birs, is bisected by the Rhine with Grossbasel on the left (south) bank and Kleinbasel on the right bank. Crossing the Rhine to join the two parts of the city is the Mittlere Brücke, or 'middle bridge,' the oldest bridge crossing that river. The city is displayed with its medieval defensive walls, surrounded by farms, and surmounted by the city arms. A letter key annotates 21 sites in Grossbasel and seven in Kleinbasel. In addition to boatmen and fishermen plying the river, deer can be seen just beyond the western walls of the city, and to the southeast, a plowman works a field.Münster's Home City
While neglecting to prominently mark the location of his home or of his publisher, the view reflects the city known to Münster as a scholar, religious man, and bookman. Near the center of the map, and at the top of the legend, is Summum Templum, the 'highest church,' that is to say the Basler Munster. The majority of the other named structures are themselves churches or cloisters. The city's college is marked, as well as the town's all-important paper factory. Across the river, just outside the walls of Kleinbasel is the iron works and carpenters' shops.Although not marked on the map, Münster's home at Number 11 Münsterplatz would have been one of the houses indicated directly south (that is, above) the Basler Munster: a central location!
Adding to the Cosmographia
From its first printings in 1544, Münster's Cosmographia was notable for maps and views depicting their subjects for the first time in print. In subsequent editions, Münster labored to build the work by ordering improved city views and additional decorative woodcuts. 1550 saw the addition of many maps and views to the body of the work. Münster's spur to do so was the 1548 publication of Johannes Stumpf's magnificently illustrated history of Switzerland, whose woodcut maps and views outstripped those in Cosmographia both in quality and number. Münster knew he had to improve and commissioned many of the woodcuts that would make his work the most popular. This was among the first to be added. The view, with a date indicating that its source sketch was 1549, bears the monogram of formschneider Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch (1525 - 1571). Many of Deutsch's woodcuts were first included in the 1550 editions of Münster's work. An additional formschneider's mark appears as well, that of the so-called 'monogrammist C-S' whose work appeared in Münster's work at the same time as did that of Deutsch.Publication History and Census
This woodcut was executed by the anonymous 'monogrammist C-S' and the artist Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch, who produced many of Munster's woodcuts, including his famous panoply of monsters. It was produced for inclusion in the 1550 edition of Münster's Cosmographia, and it remained in the work for the rest of its long publication run. The present example conforms typographically to the 1572 Latin-text edition of Cosmographia. Four separate examples are listed in OCLC, but the work appears on the market from time to time.CartographerS
Sebastian Münster (January 20, 1488 - May 26, 1552), was a German cartographer, cosmographer, Hebrew scholar and humanist. He was born at Ingelheim near Mainz, the son of Andreas Munster. He completed his studies at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in 1518, after which he was appointed to the University of Basel in 1527. As Professor of Hebrew, he edited the Hebrew Bible, accompanied by a Latin translation. In 1540 he published a Latin edition of Ptolemy's Geographia, which presented the ancient cartographer's 2nd century geographical data supplemented systematically with maps of the modern world. This was followed by what can be considered his principal work, the Cosmographia. First issued in 1544, this was the earliest German description of the modern world. It would become the go-to book for any literate layperson who wished to know about anywhere that was further than a day's journey from home. In preparation for his work on Cosmographia, Münster reached out to humanists around Europe and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, enlisting colleagues to provide him with up-to-date maps and views of their countries and cities, with the result that the book contains a disproportionate number of maps providing the first modern depictions of the areas they depict. Münster, as a religious man, was not producing a travel guide. Just as his work in ancient languages was intended to provide his students with as direct a connection as possible to scriptural revelation, his object in producing Cosmographia was to provide the reader with a description of all of creation: a further means of gaining revelation. The book, unsurprisingly, proved popular and was reissued in numerous editions and languages including Latin, French, Italian, and Czech. The last German edition was published in 1628, long after Münster's death of the plague in 1552. Cosmographia was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century, passing through 24 editions between 1544 and 1628. This success was due in part to its fascinating woodcuts (some by Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel). Münster's work was highly influential in reviving classical geography in 16th century Europe, and providing the intellectual foundations for the production of later compilations of cartographic work, such as Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Münster's output includes a small format 1536 map of Europe; the 1532 Grynaeus map of the world is also attributed to him. His non-geographical output includes Dictionarium trilingue in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and his 1537 Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. Most of Munster's work was published by his stepson, Heinrich Petri (Henricus Petrus), and his son Sebastian Henric Petri. More by this mapmaker...
Heinrich Petri (1508 - 1579) and his son Sebastian Henric Petri (1545 – 1627) were printers based in Basel, Switzerland. Heinrich was the son of the printer Adam Petri and Anna Selber. After Adam died in 1527, Anna married the humanist and geographer Sebastian Münster - one of Adam's collaborators. Sebastian contracted his stepson, Henricus Petri (Petrus), to print editions of his wildly popular Cosmographia. Later Petri, brought his son, Sebastian Henric Petri, into the family business. Their firm was known as the Officina Henricpetrina. In addition to the Cosmographia, they also published a number of other seminal works including the 1566 second edition of Nicolaus Copernicus's De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium and Georg Joachim Rheticus's Narratio. Learn More...
Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch (1525–1571) was a Swiss artist and woodcutter. His work appeared in Agricola's De re metallica and for Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia. Deutsch's father, Niklaus Manuel Deutsch (the Elder) and his brother Niklaus were also artists. Learn More...
Source
Münster, S., Cosmographia Universalis, (Basel: Petri) 1572.
The Cosmographia Universalis, one of the greatest geographical and historical works of the 16th century, 'taught nearly three generations of laymen most of what they knew about the world beyond their native places' (Strauss). Filled with maps, views, and rich descriptions of places throughout Europe and beyond, it was the best general source of geographical information until the advent of Ortelius' Theatrum. It was first issued by Sebastian Munster (1488 - 1552) in its 1544 German edition, and stayed in print long after its author's death in thirty five editions, and in five languages. (Of these, the 1550 and 1552 editions are widely regarded as the most complete and truest to the author's intentions: thereafter, later editors continued to add to the work's text; editions from 1588 onwards employed an entirely different set of maps produced on Ortelius' model.) Munster's goal, initially, was to rally his homeland's humanists and scholars to produce a new map of Germany in order to 'see what kind of a land our ancestors conquered for their home... bring honor to our country and place its beauties in the clear light of day.' Munster's project quickly expanded to cover the known world in its scope to produce a 'sufficiently large volume, in which I touch upon the foundation of all nations and kingdoms, their peculiarities, rivers, mountains, customs of men, royal successions, origins of the more important cities, succinct histories, religions, characteristics and fertility of lands... in Germany, however, I tarry a little longer'.
Munster's methodology in Cosmographia is notable in particular for his dedication to providing his readers with direct access to firsthand reports of his subjects wherever possible. Many of the maps were the result of his own surveys; others, the fruit of an indefatigable letter writing campaign to scholars, churchmen and princes throughout Europe, amicably badgering them for maps, views, and detailed descriptions of their lands. For lands further afield than his letters could reach, Munster relied on the best that the authorities of northern European scholarship could offer: he was well familiar with the work of Waldseemuller and other geographers of the early 16th century, and was well connected with the best geographers of his own generation. A disproportionate number of the maps of Cosmographia show contemporary geographical knowledge of the their respective areas for the very first time: The first map to show the continents of the Western Hemisphere; the first map to focus on the continent of Asia; the first modern map to name the Pacific Ocean; the first map to use a key; the first modern map of the British Isles and so on. Even in cases where earlier maps exist, Munster's works very often remain the earliest such acquirable by the collector.
Munster's methodology in Cosmographia is notable in particular for his dedication to providing his readers with direct access to firsthand reports of his subjects wherever possible. Many of the maps were the result of his own surveys; others, the fruit of an indefatigable letter writing campaign to scholars, churchmen and princes throughout Europe, amicably badgering them for maps, views, and detailed descriptions of their lands. For lands further afield than his letters could reach, Munster relied on the best that the authorities of northern European scholarship could offer: he was well familiar with the work of Waldseemuller and other geographers of the early 16th century, and was well connected with the best geographers of his own generation. A disproportionate number of the maps of Cosmographia show contemporary geographical knowledge of the their respective areas for the very first time: The first map to show the continents of the Western Hemisphere; the first map to focus on the continent of Asia; the first modern map to name the Pacific Ocean; the first map to use a key; the first modern map of the British Isles and so on. Even in cases where earlier maps exist, Munster's works very often remain the earliest such acquirable by the collector.
Condition
Good. Mended wormhole to left margin; expertly reinstated margin at right just impacting border.
References
OCLC 163142027.