Schedel, Hartmann | The world before Columbus sailed

Schedel, Hartmann
[Untitled map of the world; the sheet headlined "Secunda etas mundi"]. [Nuremberg: 1493]

Woodcut map (to sight: 540 x 395 mm). Handcoloring, with twelve windheads supported in three corners by the figures of Ham, Shem, and Japhet (the sons of Noah responsible for recolonizing the world after the Flood), a woodcut panel in the left margin depicts seven figures representing the bizarre inhabitants of the unexplored medieval world; a few stray spots, one or two instances of soiling, minor loss to upper margin and center fold. Matted and framed; not examined out of frame.

Published 40 years after the invention of printing

Removed from the famous Nuremberg Chronicle, which counted Albrecht Dürer among is contributors, this mappamundi of Ptolemaic configurations—albeit stripped of most scientific apparatus—is one of the earliest obtainable printed world maps. The map depicts the world as it was perceived just prior to Columbus's voyage and the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope by Dias, and represents the intersection of the theological and legend-based Medieval worldview with the emerging scientific preoccupations of the Renaissance.

One of the greatest bridges in cartographic history

REFERENCE
Campbell 219; Shirley 19; World Encompassed 44

Condition Report:
Condition as described in catalogue entry.