[Schedel's World Map - Secunda etas mundi - Folium xiii]

Scarce Incunabulum Woodcut Map of the World Printed in 1497.

Early Ptolemaic woodcut world map by Hartmann Schedel. A reduced version of the world map from Schedel's World Chronicle, printed in the 15th century and published by Johann Schönsperger in Augsburg in 1497. This makes it one of earliest obtainable world maps today. From the first Latin edition of the so-called "Small Schedel" by Schönsperger, which is far rarer than the preceding large folio editions published by Koberger in Nuremberg. The most richly illustrated incunabulum ever, first appeared in Latin in July 1493 and in the German translation six months later. Our map is from Schönsperger's pirated edition, a kind of vernacular edition containing smaller scaled reproductions of the Nuremberg illustrations. Two more German editions appeared in 1496 and 1500.

Though only about a quarter of the size of the original, this world map from 1497 contains almost as much details. Only the left panel with the strange creatures has been omitted. The map shows the known world at that time and is based on Ptolemy's description from the second century AD. The border contains twelve dour windheads, in three of its corners are the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth, who according to the Old Testament were to re-inhabit the earth after the destruction of mankind by the Flood. The New World (America) first appeared on a printed world map about 10 years later. In the 1506 world map by Giovanni Conarini, of which only one surviving example is known.

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World Maps - Schedel, Hartmann - [Schedel's World Map - Secunda etas mundi...