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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:
Basel / 1560 circa
Size:
8 x 12 inches (sheet size)
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
75156
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550 circa
Size:
6 x 4.25 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
78391
Place/Date:
Basel / 1555
Size:
5.25 x 5 inches
Condition:
Good
Stock#:
78565
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550 circa
Size:
14.25 x 10 inches (including text)
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
78765
Place/Date:
Basle / 1570 circa
Size:
6 x 4 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
97783
Place/Date:
Basle / 1560
Size:
6 x 5.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
101319
Place/Date:
Basle / 1554 circa
Size:
6 x 10.3 inches (Including text)
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
73670
Place/Date:
Basle / 1554
Size:
6.5 x 10 inches Including Text
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
73700
Place/Date:
Basle / 1580 circa
Size:
11.5 x 7.5 inches (including text)
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
77212
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
7 x 10 inches Including Text
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
77251
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550 circa
Size:
15.25 x 10 inches (including text)
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
78931
Place/Date:
Basel / 1560
Size:
8 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
102986
Place/Date:
Basle / 1570 circa
Size:
15 x 4 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
26167
Place/Date:
Basle / 1579
Size:
5.5 x 3 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
71244
Place/Date:
Basle / 1561
Size:
5.25 x 6.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
75104
Place/Date:
Basle / 1598
Size:
6.25 x 5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
75179
Place/Date:
Basel / 1560
Size:
12 x 8 inches (sheet size)
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
75325
Place/Date:
Basle / 1560
Size:
6.25 x 5.75 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
75407
Place/Date:
Basel / 1560
Size:
5.5 x 3.5 inches (sheet size)
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
75443
Place/Date:
Basle / 1570 circa
Size:
14 x 10.5 inches Including Text
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
77630
Place/Date:
Basle / 1579
Size:
6 x 10 inches Including Text
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
77774
Place/Date:
Basel / 1584 circa
Size:
6 x 5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
77813

Archived

Place/Date:
Basel / 1552
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
12032
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
13381
Place/Date:
Basel / 1558
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
29175
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544 circa
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
35005
Place/Date:
Basle / 1572
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
37163
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
13.25 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
21418
Place/Date:
Basel / 1558
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
14044
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
60157
Place/Date:
Basel / 1572
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
10232
Place/Date:
Basle / 1572
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
2994
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
13.25 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
18868
Place/Date:
Basel / 1552
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
9110
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
21387
Place/Date:
Basle / 1542
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
22280
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
53730
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
54681
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
0576
Place/Date:
Basle / 1569
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
10146
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
17038
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
17347
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550 circa
Size:
15 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
31347
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550 circa
Size:
15 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
36810
Place/Date:
Basle / 1544
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
54182
Place/Date:
Basle / 1545
Size:
13.5 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
70618
Place/Date:
Basle / 1552
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
16448
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550 circa
Size:
15 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
39348mp2
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550 circa
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
52742
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
54234
Place/Date:
Basle / 1548 circa
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
57124
Place/Date:
Basle / 1545
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
Good
Stock#:
56172
Place/Date:
Basle / 1550 circa
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
70265
Place/Date:
Basle / 1571 circa
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
93116
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
94607
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
96561
Place/Date:
Basle / 1554
Size:
15 x 11 inches
Condition:
VG+
Stock#:
14588
Place/Date:
Basle / 1540
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
66333
Place/Date:
Basle / 1579
Size:
13.5 x 10 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
6340
Place/Date:
Basel / 1550
Size:
15 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
17267
Place/Date:
Basel / 1554
Size:
15 x 10.5 inches
Condition:
VG
Stock#:
17646