Europa / die erste Tafel diser Chronicken / so im ersten Buech begrissen.

1548/ 1606 Johann Stumpf Map of Europe

Publication Date: 1548

About this Item

Very good. Printer's crease at bottom, and one small surface mend with no loss. Size 11.5 x 15.25 Inches. This is a bold, attractive 1606 edition of Johann Stumpf's 1548 south-oriented map of Europe. It is the only map derived from Sebastian Münster's Europe and is thus the last derivative of Martin Waldseemüller's unobtainable 1511 map of Europe. While Münster's map went to many editions and is readily acquirable, Stumpf's work was produced in smaller numbers and is a rarer work: larger, more beautifully executed, and more desirable. The Precursor Maps Stumpf drew the map in 1544, delivering it to formschneider Heinrich Vogtherr for wood engraving and printing. Like Münster's map, Stumpf's is a reduced, single-sheet iteration of Waldseemüller's 1511 Carta Itineraria Europae , sharing that work's distinctive southern orientation. The heart of Waldseemüller's map - the Holy Roman Empire - was itself based on the 1500-01 maps of Erhard Etzlaub (1455 - 1532). These maps, which remained the best detailed contemporaneous maps of German lands during Waldseemüller's day, were oriented to the south as a matter of utility: they were intended to orient a traveler to the noonday sun. Also, of all of the maps available to Waldseemüller in the composition of his new map of Europe, Etzlaub's were not only the most detailed and current, they were also the most important, covering his homeland. Rather than alter those his maps to conform to the Ptolemaic geography as dictated by the maps of other parts of Europe, Waldseemüller conformed the Ptolemaic maps to the most modern German cartography. The inherent modernity of this map was not lost on Münster, who would entitle his much smaller map as 'Europe, a Third Part of the World: Useful to Our Era.' Thus, the southern orientation of the map is neither an error nor whimsy, but rather an indication of the map's modernity. Stumpf's decision to model his map after Münster's was guided in part by this modernity, but it was probably the most easily accessible contemporary map. Stumpf was situated in Switzerland and had lived in Basel, where Münster also lived and worked. Indeed, Münster considered Stumpf a competitor and was aware that Stumpf's history of Switzerland contained maps that were based on his own. It is alternatively possible that, once Münster realized Stumpf's work would be confined to Switzerland, the two scholars actively collaborated. Certainly, Münster provided no interference - although the beauty and number of the woodcuts in Stumpf's history inspired Münster to rise to the challenge, resulting in the much expanded 1550 edition of his Cosmographia . The Map's Scope and Content Stumpf, like Münster, was German-Swiss, and in employing the model of the Waldseemüller and Münster maps, he emphasized the map's German-ness as well as its modernity. While many of the placenames employed throughout use Latin conventions, more of them are in German than on the Münster. In most respects, the map's topography mirrors that of its model. Stumpf's map contains a notable correction in its delineation of the Vistula River, Poland. Münster's river finds its source in the vicinity of Lithuania, perhaps conflating it with the Narew River or the Bug. Stumpf correctly places the source of the Vistula in the mountains to the south of Krakow. This correction may have resulted from a superior interpretation of Waldseemüller's admittedly confusing representation of the river network, or it might indicate the influence of Wapowski's map of Poland. In most other geographical respects, Stumpf's map mirrors Münster's. It embraces Spain and part of Ireland to the west and extends eastwards to include the Black Sea coast and the mouth of the Danube, Bulgaria, Moldavia, and Livonia. The African shores of Gibraltar appear to the south, as does Sicily. The northern reaches fall beyond the scope of this map, which truncates Ireland and Scotland. It shows only the southern portions of Denmark.

Seller Inventory # Europe-stumpf-1548-2

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Europa / die erste Tafel diser Chronicken / so im ersten Buech begrissen.
• Publication Date: 1548
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • EUROPE-MAPS