Scavonia oder Windisch Marck, Bossen, Crabaten

Article description

Woodcut map, finely hand colored in wash by a later hand. Published in the ,Cosmographia' by Sebastian Münster in Basel, German text edition 1578. Early and decorative woodcut map orientated from the north to the south depicting of the regions in Carniola, Slovenia, Illyria and the neighboring Croatia. Mountain chains, woods and very few place names are schematic shown on this old historic map. Cities and villages are shown as miniature city views. An interesting historic 16th century map of the region Windic March, the gulf of Triest and parts of Dalmatia. Verso illustrated with a decorative woodcut bordure, probably cut by the famous 16th century woodcutter Hans Holbein. Nearly none of the captivating woodcut borders verso are repeating, they are mainly shaped by allegoric scenes, coat of arms or wonderful initials. This fine antique map was was published 1574 in a German text edition of Sebastian Münster's ,Cosmographia', the first detailed scientific and popular description of the world in Sebastian Münster's native language as well as a supreme effort of geographical study and literature of the Reformation period. One of the most popular treatises of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Cosmographia reached a total of forty-six editions in six languages by 1650 each incorporating additions and revisions. Sebastian Münster was a professor of Hebrew at Basel university and a most distinguished Hebraist linguist mathematician and geographer. This encyclopedic work was his major undertaking. In its completion, which occupied him for fifteen years, Münster received the assistance of more than one hundred and twenty collaborators, who provided him with the most up-to-date information relating to the towns and places described. The scientifically most valuable sections are those which deal with Germany and Central Europe.