MÜNSTER, S. - Tabula Asiae XII (Sri Lanka, with Elephant)

The FIRST edition of Munster's first modern map of Sri Lanka, which appeared in his "Geographia Universalis", first published in 1540.

The Geographia was a new and important edition of Ptolemy, with redesigned maps and the text revised by Münster based on the Willibald Pirckheimer Latin translation with corrections of 1535 by Servetus

On verso a decorative woodcut border who were probably cut by the famous 16th century woodcutter Hans Holbein.

The Geographia was landmark work which contained, along with the Ptolemaic maps, several of the most significant modern maps in the history of cartography.

Sebastian Münster (1448-1552) was a mathematician, geographer and professor at Basel University. He also compiled a highly influential encyclopaedic work entitled Cosmographia universalis, which first appeared in 1544 and contained forty-eight woodcut maps. He was among the first editors of a published geographical text to quote or acknowledge his sources and authorities.
Now-a-days difficult to find in original untouched condition, as most examples on the market have modern colour added.