Lot 179
  • 179

North America--Münster, Sebastian.

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Description

  • Novae insulae XVII nova tabula. [Basel, 1545], 265 x 340mm., double-page woodcut map, one small spot, light discoloration, small repaired wormhole at upper margin

Literature

Burden 12 (1545 state 2)

Catalogue Note

the earliest map of the americas as a continent. It is one of the most remarkable of its kind in that is shows the New World as a distinct landmass in its own right, thereby emphasizing the continuity of North and South America. It is this delineation of America which held sway for thirty years or so until the publication of Abraham Ortelius's map in 1570.

 "In 1540 Sebastian Munster, who was to become one of the most influential cartographers of the sixteenth century, published his editions of Ptolemy's Geography with a further section of modern more up-to-date maps... The map's inclusion in Münster's Cosmography, first published in 1544, sealed the fate of 'America' as the name for the new World" (Burden).