MÜNSTER (Sebastian). - Lot 313

MÜNSTER (Sebastian). La Cosmographie universelle, contenant la situation de toutes les parties du monde avec leurs propriétés & appartenances. By Sebastian Münster. With royal privilege. French edition of this remarkable work, originally published in German in 1544. Its aim was to describe the entire known world in the mid-sixteenth century, both geographically and in terms of the history and customs of its peoples. This volume contains numerous woodcuts: 15 maps or double-page views and over 200 vignettes: portraits, costumes, trades, landscapes, diagrams, real or imaginary exotic animals, etc. In-4 format, handwritten annotations and old erasures. Book chipped. Contains the first 3 books (out of 6 in total) with some loss and damage. Bound in 18th-century brown calf, very worn, with major chips and rubbing.