Sebastian Münster - TOTIUS AFRICAE TABULA

Hammer

R30,000

Sebastian Münster - TOTIUS AFRICAE TABULA

More Information

Basel: S Münster, (1540) 1552

Woodblock engraving, centerfold, outline and decorative colour, tanning in margins, foxing; verso: Latin title on right hand sheet, tanning, foxing, paint show through, pencil notes

from Cosmographia

25,5 by 34,5cm

Münster was the first map maker to publish separate maps of the continents in his encyclopedia Cosmographia. For his map of Africa he used ancient sources, but also the discoveries of Portuguese explorers. This increased the accuracy of the coast line, but for the interior Münster relied on Roman sources, which explains the inclusion of the one eyed man or Monoculi. As Jonathan Swift satirized in 1733:

So geographers, in Afric maps
With savage pictures fill their gaps
And o'er uninhabitable downs
Place elephants for want of towns

This is a rare unusual variant of Münster's Monoculi map. During printing the loose metal type set was inserted upside down. On the map there are three instances: QVIOLA, Regnu and part of Garamantes. Not only does this help in dating the map, but it also gives insight into the woodblock printing process used in the mid16th century.

LITERATURE
Betz #3 (Variant 8)
Norwich #3
Sebastian Münster, Accessed 26 January 2021,