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Description

A rare variant of Sebastian Munster's Ptolemaic map of the British Isles.

The present map is a rare variant edition of Munster's map of Great Britain and Ireland, as conceived by the great ancient Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy (90-168 AD). While the version of this map which appeared in the various editions of Munster's Geographia, first issued in 1540, are entitled Europa Tabula I, this rare edition is distinctively titled Tabula Britanniae. This edition appeared within an issue of Strabo's Geography, entitled Strabonis rerum geographicarum libri septemdecim, printed in Basle by Heinrich Petri, 1571.

True to Ptolemaic form, the map depicts the British Isles within a trapezoidal border. While no settlements are marked on the landscape itself, the map labels the territories of the various ancient tribes that occupied the islands, as well as delineating major rivers. The table to the right of the map lists not only the tribes, but also the various cities and towns as they appeared in Great Britain during Roman times, most notably 'Londinium' (London). Faithful to ancient misconceptions, Scotland projects dramatically to the east and features the mysterious Caledonian forest. To the north are the '30 islands' of the Orkneys and the apocryphal island of Thule. England and Wales are vaguely recognizable to the modern viewer, although the West Country takes on an exaggerated form. The depiction of Ireland is also accompanied by a table that details the major tribes and settlements of Hibernia.

Sebastian Munster (1488-1552) was one of the 16th century's three leading mapmakers, along with Ortelius and Mercator. Munster was a linguist and mathematician, who initially taught Hebrew in Heidelberg. He issued a call to scholars across Europe for geographical information, and received a phenominal response. This led Munster to produce his Geographia, a cartographic landmark, that not only included Ptolemaic maps, but also a number of landmark modern maps, including the first separate maps of the 4 continents, the first map of the British Isles and the earliest obtainable map of Scandinavia.

The present rare variant edition of Munster's Ptolemaic map of the British Isles, Tabula Britanniae, very seldom appears on the market, and this is the first example we have handled in our 20 years in business.

Condition Description
Title offset as issued, some light browning at margins.
Reference
Rare, Not in Shirley.
Sebastian Munster Biography

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.