Cosmographia, das ist: Beschreibung der gantzen Welt (…)

Henricpetri, Basel, 1628

Last German edition of Münster’s famous Cosmagraphia. Compared to previous editions, it has been enriched with about 200 woodcuts in the text. In addition, 25 of the maps have been redrawn and adapted to the current state of knowledge.

Description: Bound in contemporary pigskin over wooden boards, decorated with roll-tooled borders; 2 brass clasps and catch-plates; spine with 7 raised bands. Folio: 37 × 23 cm (sheet size); [12]ll., 52ll. (maps), 1752pp. (i.e. 1748). With 1 engraved title-page (by M. Merian), 26 double-page maps (before text), 73 double-page maps and plans in the text section (1 fold-out) and more than 1400 woodcut illustrations in text.

Ref.: Burmeister 88; VD17 23:230709C

Condition: Binding slightly rubbed, stained and soiled, with a small tear at the headband. Endpapers renewed, front pastedown with adhesive residue of old bookplate. Inner hinges reinforced. Contents throughout somewhat browned with age. Throughout somewhat spotted and in places slightly dampstained. The engraved title page with a small tear in the lower margin (c. 1 cm, not affecting the print), the double-page map reinforced at the inner edges. Despite the described blemishes, still a well-preserved copy.

Notes: Münster’s famous Cosmographia, first published in 1544, describes the German lands, their geography, society and history, and is richly illustrated. Other European and non-European regions are also described, according to the state of knowledge at the time. Münster generally drew his information from reputable, scholarly sources and is generally regarded as a very realistic representation of the time. However, the Cosmographia also contains accounts of unicorns, dragons and other fabulous creatures and peoples. While the first edition of 1544 contained only six realistic views – in addition to the obligatory pilgrimage destinations of Rome and Jerusalem, the author’s home towns of Ingelheim and Basel – the number increased with each subsequent edition. The Cosmographia thus became the prototype of the ‘city book’ and initiated a development in the representation of cities that would reach its climax with Matthäus Merian.