1552 Munster Leaf: Africa Interior, African Nations

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1552 Description of Africa from "Cosmographia" by Sebastian Münster
Ethiopia, Africa Interior, Meroe, African Nations
"D'Ethiopie Libie Interieure"
"Des diverses nations d'Ethiopie"

Two Woodcut Pictures

Single authentic woodcut leaf from "Cosmographia" by Sebastian Münster. French edition; Basel printing house of Sebastian Heinrich-Petri 1552. Book VI, pages 1411-12.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work - after the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493 - in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographia appeared during 1544-1628. Although other cosmographies predate Münster's, he is given first place in historical discussions of this sort of publication, and was a major influence on his subject for over 200 years.

In nearly all works about Münster, his Cosmographia is given pride of place. Despite this, we still lack a detailed survey of its contents from edition to edition, during the years 1544 to 1628, and an account of its influence on a wide range of scientific disciplines. Münster obtained the material for his book in three ways. He used all available literary sources. He tried to obtain original manuscript material for description of the countryside and of villages and towns. Finally, he obtained further material on his travels (primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace). Cosmographia contained not only the latest maps and views of many well-known cities, but included an encyclopaedic amount of detail about the known - and unknown - world and undoubtedly must have been one of the most widely read books of its time. Aside from the well-known maps and views present in the Cosmographia (including the first separate printed map of the Western Hemisphere), the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous woodcuts: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters and horrors. Münster divided his material into six books. Book I is a useful summary of astronomical-mathematical and physical geography. Book II deals with England, Spain, France, and Italy. Book III deals with Germany and surrounding lands. Book IV embraces northern, eastern, and south-eastern Europe. Books V (Asia and America) and VI (Africa) are of modest proportions.

This authentic leaf from an early French edition of Cosmographia is devoted to Libya Interior. According to Pliny, Africa was divided into Aegyptus, Cyrenaica, Africa Minor, Garamantes, Numidia, Mauritania, Gaetulia, Libya Interior, Arabia, Troglodytica (Troglodytae), and Aethiopia. Libya Interior included the interior (known and unknown) of Africa, as contrasted with the N. and N.E. portion. Interestingly, the exact border between Africa and Asia was not clearly defined. As Münster writes: "Il y a double Ethiophie. L'une est in Asie, l'autre en Affricque" ("There are two Ethiopias, one in Asia, one in Africa"). The text states that the interior is populated by monstrous and horrible races.

Thereafter follows description of Meroe, city of ancient Cush (Kush) the ruins of which are located on the east bank of the Nile about 4 miles north of Kabushiyah in the present-day Sudan; Meroe is also the name of the area surrounding the city. The 25th, or "Ethiopian," dynasty of ancient Egypt is believed to have retired to Cush after 656 BC and established itself at Meroe, where it fostered an Egypto-Cushite culture that through the subsequent 1,000 years became increasingly cut off from its source. Meroe was the southern administrative centre for the kingdom of Cush, beginning c. 750 BC, at a time when Napata was still its capital. Meroe survived a Roman invasion - though its status was lowered thereby - but it later declined in the face of raiding Negroid and Nilotic tribes, to fall at the more determined invasions of the Aksumite armies in the 4th century. The text mentions the kingdom of Saba (Sheba) in pre-Islamic southwestern Arabia, frequently mentioned in the Bible (notably in the story of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba) and variously cited by ancient Assyrian, Greek, and Roman writers. Saba was rich in spices and agricultural products and carried on a wealth of trade by overland caravan and by sea. For centuries it controlled Bab el-Mandeb, the straits leading into the Red Sea, and it established many colonies on the African shores, in particular in Ethiopia.

Page 1412 contains a section on various nations inhabiting Ethiopia, including Rhizophagi (root eaters), Ilophagi/Hylophagi (wood eaters), and Spermatophagi (seed eaters). The leaf contains two very nice woodcut pictures:

• An African man
• A coat-of-arms

The leaf measures 8.25 x 12.5 inches. Printed on laid paper. The page is in fair/good condition. Imperfections: waterstains (can be cleaned if needed); several tiny wormholes. This is a rare and exceptionally interesting historical document which will look great with a mat and frame.

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