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Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a cosmographer and professor of Hebrew who taught at Tübingen, Heidelberg, and Basel. He settled in the latter in 1529 and died there, of plague, in 1552. Münster made himself the center of a large network of scholars from whom he obtained geographic descriptions, maps, and directions.

As a young man, Münster joined the Franciscan order, in which he became a priest. He then studied geography at Tübingen, graduating in 1518. He moved to Basel, where he published a Hebrew grammar, one of the first books in Hebrew published in Germany. In 1521 Münster moved again, to Heidelberg, where he continued to publish Hebrew texts and the first German-produced books in Aramaic. After converting to Protestantism in 1529, he took over the chair of Hebrew at Basel, where he published his main Hebrew work, a two-volume Old Testament with a Latin translation.

Münster published his first known map, a map of Germany, in 1525. Three years later, he released a treatise on sundials. In 1540, he published Geographia universalis vetus et nova, an updated edition of Ptolemy’s Geographia. In addition to the Ptolemaic maps, Münster added 21 modern maps. One of Münster’s innovations was to include one map for each continent, a concept that would influence Ortelius and other early atlas makers. The Geographia was reprinted in 1542, 1545, and 1552.  

He is best known for his Cosmographia universalis, first published in 1544 and released in at least 35 editions by 1628. It was the first German-language description of the world and contained 471 woodcuts and 26 maps over six volumes. Many of the maps were taken from the Geographia and modified over time. The Cosmographia was widely used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The text, woodcuts, and maps all influenced geographical thought for generations.

Place/Date:
Basle / 1555
Size:
21.5 x 14 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
57814
Place/Date:
Basel / 1552
Size:
9 x 13 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
90564
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
94609
Place/Date:
Basle / 1552 circa
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
94434
Place/Date:
Basel / 1588 (1598)
Size:
14 x 12.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
89306
Place/Date:
London / 1598 circa
Size:
15 x 12.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
74642
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
94608
Place/Date:
Basel / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
94616
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
94625
Place/Date:
Basel / 1540
Size:
13 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
96564
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
95794
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
94703
Place/Date:
Basel / 1560 circa
Size:
14 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
90175
Place/Date:
Basel / 1570 circa
Size:
13 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
91267
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
94639
Place/Date:
Basel / 1545
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
95848
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
76322
Place/Date:
Basel / 1554
Size:
30.5 x 9.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
86508
Place/Date:
Basel / 1628 circa
Size:
13 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
82525
Place/Date:
Venice / 1545
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
82782
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
94618
Place/Date:
Basel / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
95917
Place/Date:
Basel / 1552 circa
Size:
14 x 12 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
81273
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550 circa
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
81292

Archived

Place/Date:
Basle / 1532
Size:
21.5 x 14 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
30390
Place/Date:
Basel / 1532
Size:
22 x 14.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
48989
Place/Date:
Basle / 1537 circa
Size:
21.5 x 14 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
52543
Place/Date:
Basle / 1532
Size:
21.5 x 14 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
59063
Place/Date:
Basle / 1532
Size:
21.5 x 14.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
60824
Place/Date:
Basle / 1555
Size:
21.5 x 14 inches
Condition:
Good
Stock#:
94392
Place/Date:
Basel / 1545
Size:
13 x 10 inches Map Size
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
68362
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
64284
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
72797
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544
Size:
13.25 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
36978mo
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
14097
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
22284
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
73512
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
96997
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
33181gm
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
54884
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
94613
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
23067
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
63196mp2
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
26063
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544 circa
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
41407
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
41106
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
62809
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
2316
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544
Size:
13.25 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
35102
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544
Size:
13.25 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
83344
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
17373
Place/Date:
Basle / 1552
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
63040
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
94606
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
97003
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
13.25 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
17332
Place/Date:
Basel / 1552
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
25980
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544
Size:
13.25 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
41680
Place/Date:
Basle / 1569
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
33668
Place/Date:
Basel / 1552
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
33214gm
Place/Date:
Basle / 1552
Size:
10 x 13.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
37347