World Map from
Munster's Cosmographia
World Map from
Munster's Cosmographia
Das Erst Generale..., Munster, 1550 (1574 or 1578). Fine condition and impression. Very good margins. 26 x 37.5 cm + title. $3400.
World map on an oval projection, surrounded by twelve wind cherubs. Munster is
here non-committal as to the continuity of North and South America, an unbroken
Central America being implied but not clearly shown. Though unnamed, Terra
Australis is present but small, only serving to form the Magellan Strait. All of
North America is called Terra Florida. Munster here adds further to the current
confusion over Taprobana and Ceylon, depicting a Sumatra-shaped Tapbana on the
west side of the Indian subcontinent, and Java in the approximately correct size
and position of Sri Lanka.
Shirley 92.
verso :
