Sebastian Munster: Cosmographia 1588

Sebastian Münster was a polymath and humanist who was far ahead of his time. His life’s work was the Cosmographia, which was written in German and first printed in Basel in 1544 before being revised in 1550. It is the culmination of twenty years of work, during which Münster consulted and collaborated with more than 120 “eminent persons, scholars and artists”. Numerous editions would continue to be made until the early 17th century and the work, which is the earliest description of the world written in German, has been translated into numerous languages. It was probably the most widely read book of the 16th century after the Bible and nearly 50 editions would be published in total, including this German edition printed in Basel in 1588. The encyclopedic work is divided into six books and is illustrated by more than 900 woodcuts including 247 cityscapes and 40 maps. Some of the artists who contributed woodcuts to this project include Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel. It is truly one of the greatest book projects of the Renaissance, which set new quantitative and qualitative standards for reference books.