MUNSTER

CONSTANTINOPEL DES GRIECHISCHEN KEYSERTHUMBS HAUPSTATT, IM LANDE THRACIA AM MEERE GELEGEN

Sebastian MUNSTER (1489-1552)

25 x 37,5 cm.

Printed in Basle by Petri circa 1550.

Attractive coloured woodcut view of Constantinople, today Istanbul, by Sebastian Munster. From a German edition of the “Cosmographey”. Showing the city from birdeye perspective with dozens of ships in the harbor. Verso German text.

Sebastian Münster was born 1489 in Ingelheim (Pfalz). First being a Franciscan, he became Professor for Theology, Hebrew and Mathematics after he converted to Protestantism in 1529. He became one of the most influencing geographers of the sixteenth century. His Cosmographia, published in 1544, spread geographical knowledge wide over Europe. It was issued in nearly 40 editions and 6 languages. Münster was the first cartographer publishing each known continent on a separate map. His second important work was the Geographia, a new edition of Ptolemys Geographia. He died May 1552 in Basel on Black Death.