LA FIGURE DU MONDE UNIVERSEL.

Beautiful example of Sebastian Münster's oval new world map, from the Cosmographia of 1550. Relief is shown pictorially. The map is embellished with fierce sea monsters and a sailing war ship. Surrounding the earth are billowing clouds and numerous wind gods reflecting the wind characteristics. North America retains its unusual shape almost bisected by water. The initials of the woodcutter, David Kandel (DK), can be identified in the lower left-hand corner.
This important map was published in the 1550-edition of Sebastian Münster’s Cosmographia. This edition is considered to be Münster’s Magnum Opus.

At the advent of printing in the 15th Century, the geographical works of Ptolemy were at their highpoint. Virtually all of the printed maps in the late 15th and early 16th Century were based with varying degrees of accuracy on his works.
By the middle of the 16th Century, contemporary cartography was moving on to more modern depictions of the world and its regions but the teaching of Ptolemy were sufficiently important that they were incorporated into most general cartographic works for at least another 100 years.