Die Eydtgnoschafft oder Schwytzerland, mit den anstossenden Landern / Die ander Tafel...

Early woodcut map of the course of the river Rhine in three sheets. The first large map of the river Rhine by Sebastian Munster. Printed from three woodblocks, not assembled. Shows the river Rhine from its source to its mouth. Very rare as a complete set. From the German edition of Sebastian Munster's Cosmography, titled Cosmographey oder beschreibung aller Lander, published 1574 by Heinrich Petri in Basel.

Small tear in lower white margin of the third sheet backed. A very good copy on excellent paper.

Sebastian Münster was born 1489 in Ingelheim (Pfalz). First being a Franciscan, he became Professor for Theology, Hebrew and Mathematics after he converted to Protestantism in 1529. He became one of the most influencing geographers of the sixteenth century. His Cosmographia, published in 1544, spread geographical knowledge wide over Europe. It was issued in nearly 40 editions and 6 languages. Münster was the first cartographer publishing each known continent on a separate map. His second important work was the Geographia, a new edition of Ptolemys Geographia. He died May 1552 in Basel on Black Death.