Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) - Cosmographia Universalis - Vie delle Spezie e Storia di Maometto - 1550

This original sheet is a precious Renaissance page taken from the internal sections of the fifth book of Sebastian Münster's Latin edition of Cosmographia universalis, 1550, printed in Basel by the publisher Heinrich Petri. The front of the page hosts the solemn chorographic section entitled LIBER V, expressly dedicated by Münster to the description of the trade of the Arabian Peninsula and the routes to the East. The Latin text opens by celebrating the wealth of aromas, spices and precious fruits that transit along the ancient mercantile road toward the city of Aden, then moving to the detailed geographic chronicle of the interior and mountainous lands of Arabia Felix, describing the splendid and fortified city of Almachara (Sana'a) perched on the peaks, noted for the mild climate, the extraordinary longevity of its inhabitants, and the abundance of spring waters, and concluding with the mention of caravans of camels and the commercial ports that connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean regions. The visual composition of the front is enriched by a fine initial woodcut letter and contemporaneous printed glosses. Of extraordinary scholarly interest is the presence of ancient marginal notes printed contemporaneously (Aden uidetur esse Ocelis, Almachara ciuitas moenia) that testify to the critical apparatus of the work aimed at highlighting the most significant geographical and economic passages.
Turning the page, the back continues the development of the historical chronicle with the heading DE TERRIS ASIAE MAIORIS containing the biographical chapter DE MAHOMETE SARACENORVM PSEVDOPROPHEta, eiusq[ue] origine & peruersitate (Cap. LXXVI). The Latin text unfolds as a dense and erudite philosophical and historiographical dissertation on the origins, rise and doctrine of the founder of Islam, considered by the author a false prophet. Münster places in parallel the customs, biographical events, and political exploits of Muhammad, focusing in particular on his youth as a camel driver between Egypt and Syria, on the marriage to the wealthy widow Khadija, and on the crucial influence of the Nestorian monk Sergius in the drafting of the religious precepts, analyzing how the use of a new law united the Arab tribes and radically changed the geopolitical arrangement of the Near East. The page is solemnly enriched by the presence of an important woodcut depicting Muhammad in oriental dress and turban, seen in profile as he points to a sacred text, accompanied by marginal typographic notes (Mahumetes inter Christianos uersatus, Mahumetes latro & fur, Sergius monachus, Mahumetes epilepticus) and by precious period handwritten ink annotations in the upper part (Incipit secta Mahometi o Martinum De Remonchamps 1564). The preface introduces the methodological motivations that guided the author in writing Cosmographia, understood as a monumental work aimed at offering rulers and scholars of the 16th century a universal guide to understanding the morals, geography and the changes of the peoples of the Earth through the centuries.

Dimensions 30 x 20 cm
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