Cyria / Cypern / Palestina / Mesopotamia / Babylonia / Chaldea und zwey Arabia mit...

Early, attractive woodcut map of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Covering the area between northern Syria and the Red Sea, with Cyprus, the Holy Land, Jordan and parts of the Iraq. On verso a title surrounded by a beautiful woodcut border. From the German edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmography, titled Cosmographey oder beschreibung aller Länder, published 1574 by Heinrich Petri in Basel.

Tiny hole in upper margin around centrefold, evidence of minor waterstaining in outer left and right margin. A very good copy with strong impression on excellent paper.

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.