Valesia / Wallisserlandt

Early woodcut map of the Valais in southern Switzerland. Showing the region at the river Rhone from the Furka Pass to St. Maurice. Verso a portrait of Sebastian Munster. From a German edition of Cosmographia by Sebastian Munster, published around 1550 in Basel.

Excellent conditions.

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.