Sebastian Münster - Cosmographia - 1590

Leaf with 4 beautiful hand-coloured woodcuts depicting the arrival of soldiers in the city of Rheinfelden and castle of Grenzach for the battle in 1444 by Sebastian Münster. Furthermore residents of Rheinfeld and the monastery Olsberg, the oldest Cistercian abbey in Switzerland are shown.

These very old woodcuts were published in Sebastian Münster's "Cosmographey: das ist, Beschreibung Aller Länder" in Basel, Henricpetri, circa 1590.

The work was a vast chronicle of all geographical knowledge of the world up to that time. It contained world maps, as well as views of cities, and woodcuts of historical subjects, mythology, natural history, and ethnography.

Münster was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar. He also became a Franciscan monk at a young age. Münster's Cosmographia was the first scientific work in the German language.

Dimensions: 33,4 x 20,4 cm
Good condition, paper slightly browned due to age.