1574 Sebastian Munster Antique Map - City View of Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Cartographer : Sebastian Munster

  • Title  : Die Statt Treir
  • Date  : 1574
  • Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
  • Ref # :  33540
  • Size   : 16in x 13in (405mm x 330mm)

Description:
This finely engraved hand coloured original antique double page view of the German city of Trier in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was published in the early 1574 edition of Sebastian Munsters Cosmographia by Sebastian Petri, Basle.
Sebastian Petri re-release of Cosomgraphia in 1588 produced some fine woodcut maps 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. For a variety of reasons town plans were comparatively latecomers in the long history of cartography. Few cities in Europe in the middle ages had more than 20,00 inhabitants and even London in the late Elizabethan period had only 100-150,000 people which in itself was probably 10 times that of any other English city. The Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493 included one of the first town views of Jerusalem, thereafter, for most of the sixteenth century, German cartographers led the way in producing town plans in a modern sense. In 1544 Sebastian Munster issued in Basle his Cosmographia containing roughly sixty-six plans and views, some in the plan form, but many in the old panorama or birds eye view. (Ref: Tooley; M&B)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - Off white
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: -  Yellow, green, blue
General color appearance: -  Authentic
Paper size: - 16in x 13in (405mm x 330mm)
Margins: - Min ½in (12mm)

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

Background:
Trier is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. Trier lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the west of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, near the border with Luxembourg and within the important Moselle wine region. The German philosopher and one of the founders of Marxism, Karl Marx was born in the city in 1818.
Founded by the Celts in the late-4th century BC as Treuorum, it was later conquered by the Romans in the late-1st century BC and renamed Trevorum or Augusta Treverorum (Latin for The City of Augustus among the Treveri). Trier may be the oldest city in Germany. It is also the oldest seat of a bishop north of the Alps. In the Middle Ages, the Archbishop-Elector of Trier was an important prince of the church, as the archbishop-electorate controlled land from the French border to the Rhine. The Archbishop-Elector also had great significance as one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Empire.

$175.00