An uncommon Italian edition of the first printed map of Asia

MUNSTER, Sebastian.

Tavola della oriental regione dell'Asia, che comprende l'extreme terre. & regni di quella.
Basle: Henri Petri, c.1558, Italian text edition. Woodcut, sheet 310 x 405mm.

Munster's famous map of modern Asia, with most of the information coming from Portuguese sources, indicated by the presence of their Indian colonies Cambay, Goa, Calicut and Kannur. However further east Munster has had to return to Marco Polo's account, written in prison in 1298, for China and the 'Archipelago of 7448 Islands', the Philippines. Ptolemy's 'Taprobana' is now Sumatra rather than Sri Lanka. At the bottom of the map Zanzibar is an island south-east of Madagascar. Decorating the seas is a huge fish and a twin-tailed mermaid.
There were three Italian text editions (1558, 1571 & 1575), all using maps printed in 1558.


Stock ID : 22350