Beschreibung:

MÜNSTER, Sebastian (1489-1552). Della cosmografia universale. Basel: Heinrich Petri, March 1558. Rare first Italian edition of “the first modern” work of cosmology (Hodgen), in a contemporary binding. Münster was a cartographer, historian, and linguist who combined his expertise to elevate the medieval genre of the cosmography into this tour-de-force work, which “brought all the empires of man into a single meaningful progression…[and] this single thread of history he married to geography, so that each should mirror and illuminate the other” (Mclean). Originally published in German in 1544, editions in many other languages followed quickly. This Italian translation, printed by the original publisher, contains woodcuts by eminent artists including Hans Holbein which illustrate a panoply of maps, views, flora, fauna, technological practices, and both Biblical and historical scenes. This is the last edition in which South America is captioned Insula Atlantica quam vocant Brasilii e Americam (in later editions, it is labeled Nova Insula Atlantica ). RBH and ABPC record only one other copy in the last 30 years. Adams M-1915; Alden/Landis 558/32; Sabin 51402. See Margaret T. Hodgen, "Sebastian Muenster (1489-1552): A Sixteenth-Century Ethnographer ," Osiris 11 (1954) and Matthew McLean, The Cosmographia of Sebastian Münster: Describing the World in the Reformation (2007). Folio (316 x 201mm). Numerous woodcuts throughout, including three large folding illustrations and 20 double-page maps (some leaves browned; light worming; small tear at join of third folding plate; occasional stains; some illustrations with genitals effaced). Contemporary blindstamped pigskin, central panels depicting Jael slaying Sisera with a tent peg; with remains of clasps and early 20th century paper labels on spine (abraded, with corners of boards showing; sewing visible on spine). Provenance : inscription dated July 1639 – Capuchins of Schwyz (library stamps on title).