A cartographer who had the widest influence in spreading geographical
knowledge throughout Europe in the middle years of the 16th century. His
Cosmographia, issued in 1544, contained not only the latest
maps and views of well-known cities, but also included an encyclopaedic
amount of detail about of detail about the known and unknown world and
undoubtedly must have been one of the most widely read books of its
time, with nearly forty editions in six languages.
Münster wrote the
Dictionarium Trilingue in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew and
Mappa Europae
in 1536. In 1537 he published a Hebrew Gospel of Matthew which he had
obtained from Spanish Jews he had converted. In 1540 he published a
Latin edition of
Ptolemy's Geographia with
illustrations. The 1550 edition contains cities, portraits, and
costumes. These editions, printed in Germany, are the most valued of the
Cosmographias.
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| India by Sebastian Munster circa 1540-1552 |
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See
Sebastian Munster's maps here
Antique maps for sale online