Tabula Asiae VI de MUNSTER, Sebastian (1489-1552)

[Basel: ca 1545]. Single sheet (12 x 15 2/8 inches). Fine woodcut map showing the Arabian Peninsula. This fine woodcut is an early Ptolemaic map from Muenster's "Cosmographiae universalis" of the Arabian Peninsula here called Arabia Felix. It is a good representation of the peninsula, although Ptolemy overestimated the width of the southern part of the peninsula and distorted the shape of the Arabian Gulf. The map is presented on a trapezoidal projection with parallels and meridians (forerunners of lines of longitude and latitude) enumerated in the borders. Major towns are named, although not accurately located, and the rivers are entirely imaginary. The cartouche includes the names of local tribes and a fanciful mermaid is shown in the sea. Latin text on verso contained in decorative border with columns at the sides and church dome above. This map was very influential and provided the basis on which European cartography depicted the region for nearly a century. Sebastian Munster was to become one of "the most influential cartographers in the sixteenth century" (Burden). Essentially he published Ptolemy's "Geography" with a "further section of modern, more up to date maps. He included for the first time a set of continental maps, the America was the earliest of any notes. He was one of the first to create space in the woodblock for insertion of place-names in metal type. The maps' inclusion in Munster's "Cosmography". sealed the fate of "America" as the name for the new world. The book proved to be very popular, there being nearly forty editions during the following 100 years." (Burden). Catalogued by Kate Hunter..