This fine beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Asia - the first separate map of Asia printed - was published by Sebastian Munster in the 1544 edition of Ptolemy's Cosmographia Universalis.

A nice example of the first separate map of Asia. Munster based his maps on Ptolemy's geography, but he greatly modified this thirteen-century old conception with recent information. Much of the data for this map of Asia came from the Travels of Marco Polo, written while Polo was in prison in 1298. This work told of Polo's travels with his father and uncle to China in 1275, and it had a immense impact on the conception of Asia held by Europeans through the sixteenth century. The map contains many inaccuracies reflecting the lack of good, first-hand explorations of Asia. The Indian sub-continent is shown too small, whereas in contrast Southeast Asia is beginning to be depicted somewhat correctly. Ceylon, once shown as a very large island, is now more its proper size, though two islands are shown in the immediate area. The old misconception concerning Ceylon is still reflected on this map, however, for the ancient name for the island, "Taprobane," is applied to Sumatra, an island more in scale with Ptolemy's idea of Taprobane. It is interesting to note the way Munster runs the continent of Asia off the eastern edge of the map, so as not to commit on whether Asia was or was not connected with North America; this despite his own map of America showing it as a separate land mass. Marco Polo's information was not all an improvement on Ptolemy. He introduced several geographic misconceptions, including one that put a 7,448 island archipelago off the coast of China, a misconception shown here by Munster with a scattering of islands and a legend giving their number. Besides its historic interest, this map has much visual appeal as well, with mole hill mountains, crenelated walls and towers to show cities, and Neptune and a huge sea monster in the ocean. This is a cornerstone Asian map that belongs in all Asian collections.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose work Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. It had numerous editions in different languages including Latin, French, Italian, English, and even Czech. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographia appeared between 1544 and 1628 and was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century. Münster was a major influence in popular thinking in Europe for the next 200 years.
This success was due not only to the level of descriptive detail but also to the fascinating full page maps & views as well as smaller woodcuts that were included in the text. Many of the woodcuts were executed by famous engravers of the time including Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel.
Aside from the well-known maps present in the Cosmographia, the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous views: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters, wonders, and horrors about the known -- and unknown -- world, and was undoubtedly one of the most widely read books of its time.
Münster acquired the material for his book in three ways. Firstly he researched all available literary sources across Germany, Switzerland and other parts of Europe. Secondly he obtained original manuscript material from locals all over Europe for description of the countryside, cities, villages, towns, rivers and local history. Finally, he obtained further material first hand on his travels (primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace).

In 1588 Sebastian Petri re-released Cosomgraphia and re-issued many of Munsters maps and views in the "copperplate style". The maps in this release were more sophisticated than with earlier publications of Cosomgraphia and were based on the 1570 release of Abraham Ortelius monumental work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. (Ref: Shirley; Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Gren, yellow, pink 
General color appearance: - Authentic 
Paper size: - 15 1/2in x 12 1/4in (395mm x 325mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (20mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None

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