Sebastian Munster (Basle, 1542) Size: 13.5 x 10 inches

Excellent example of Munster's map of the Indian Ocean and contiguous regions, extending from Southeast Asia to the Ganges River and north to the Himalayas. The map is based upon the writings of Ptolemy and does not show a passage to the Pacific. The map is unchanged from the 1540 edition. Munster's Geographia was a cartographic landmark, including not only Ptolemaic maps, but also a number of landmark modern maps, including the first separate maps of the 4 continents, the first map of England and the earliest obtainable map of Scandinavia. Munster dominated cartographic publication during the mid-16th Century. Munster is generally regarded as one of the three most important map makers of the 16th Century, along with Ortelius and Mercator. Munster was a linguist and mathematician, who initially taught Hebrew in Heidelberg. He issued his first mapping of Germany in 1529, after which he issued a call geographical information about Germany to scholars throughout the country.