“Von den Ländern Asie.” Hand-colored woodcut map.

MUENSTER, SEBASTIAN.

Basel, first edition 1544, (or later)

Laor 528c.

Woodblock map of the region, oriented to the north, showing numerous cities, mountains, rivers and lakes. Two text blocks within the map provide further descriptions (in German). German cartographer, cosmographer and foremost Christian Hebraist, Sebastian Muenster (1489-1552) published his Cosmographia in Basel, 1544. It was the earliest German such description and had a profound impact on the 16th-century European perception of the modern world.