Sebastian Münster - Cosmographia - 1590

The early woodcut by Sebastian Münster shows the creation of the world (Genesis) with its oceans, fire in the skies; the creation of the birds, fish and the land animals (including a unicorn).

God is overseeing his creation from above, together with two archangels in the upper corners. Two creatures, half animal, half human are depicted in the lower corners.

Dimensions: 36,5 x 23 cm

Good condition, paper with light signs of use, slightly browned and with some small spots due to age.

This very old woodcut was 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.

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