Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) - Cosmographia Universalis - funerale Re Sciti / Alessandro Magno in Oriente - 1550

This original sheet is a precious Renaissance page taken from the inner sections of the fifth book of the Latin edition of 1550 of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia universalis, printed in Basel by the publisher Heinrich Petri. The front side of the page bears the solemn chorographic section titled LIBER V, expressly dedicated by Münster to the description of the eastern regions of DRANGIANA, ARACHOSIA, GETROSIA (Chapter XCV) and of SCYTHIA ASIATICA EXTRA IMAVM montem (Chapter XCVI). The Latin text opens by recalling the crossing and the great military labors of Alexander the Great in these harsh lands, describing the scarcity of water and the richness of aromatic spices of the neighboring Indian regions, then moves to the detailed geographic chronicle of Northern Scythia, once a small homeland and then a vast empire that resisted the invasions of Darius and Cyrus the Great. The visual composition of the front is enriched by a fine initial letter “O” woodcut (OMnes has terras...), richly decorated with foliate motifs and Renaissance geometric interlacings, and by a large lower woodcut showing a war scene with knights in battle. Of extraordinary collectible interest is the presence of ancient notes and typographic glosses printed in the outer margins of the sheet (Cassiterides, Scythia libera ab alieno imperio), which bear witness to the contemporary critical apparatus of the work aimed at highlighting the most significant historical passages.
Turning the page, the back continues the development of the historical chronicle with the heading DE TERRIS ASIAE MAIORIS. The Latin text unfolds as a dense and erudite philosophical and historiographical treatise on the ferocious customs and religious rituals of the peoples of ancient and modern Scythia. Münster places in parallel the customs, the sacrificial ceremonies dedicated to Mars, and the complex peace treaties sealed by soaking weapons in wine and blood, analyzing in detail the lavish funeral ceremonies of the Scythian kings, during which servants and horses were sacrificed to accompany the sovereign to the tomb. The page is solemnly enriched by the presence of two important woodcuts, the first depicting the macabre ritual of mixing blood in a cup to seal a pact, and the second portraying a ceremonial burial scene with the sacrifice of the horses around the royal tomb, accompanied by marginal typographic glosses (Crudelitas Scytharum, Scytharum dij, Forma percutiendi foederis, Quomodo Scythe reges sepeliant). The preface introduces the methodological motivations that guided the author in writing the Cosmographia, understood as a monumental work intended to offer rulers and scholars of the 16th century a universal guide to understand the morals, geography, and changes of the peoples of the Earth across the centuries.

Dimensions 30 x 20 cm
Will be shipped by courier