Sea Horse three headed lizard Lobsters c.1552 Munster rare w/ early hand color

Liber V- deTerris Asiae Maioris

(Cosmographia Universalis- Asia- Hippopotamus Sea Horse- Donkey)

Issued circa 1552-58, Basel, Switzerland by Sebastian Munster- Latin text edition [4 diff. printings during the 1550's for the Latin text edition, but most certainly 1550's].

Quite remarkable and fascinating for what is certainly among the very earliest depictions of a hippopotamus to appear in Western culture. What is even further remarkable is how it's shown completely unmistakably as a sea horse emerging from the waves! On the reverse are two further oblong woodcuts with old hand color- the top one being two long curly serpants- one with two heads, the other with three. Below them sit two lobsters, again almost certainly among the very first depictions of them in western society.

A genuine rarity- a very early Munster wood engraved image with very old/ possibly original hand color! Very few examples of Munster's monumental "Cosmographia Universalis" were ever hand colored (there were over 500 individual wood engraved maps & images throughout), and of these precious few, very few loose examples of individual leaves such as this are ever encountered by a collector.

Fine and very early printed image of this topic/ location- mid-16th century woodcut. With very old (possibly original, but certainly hundreds of years old) hand color.

A picture is worth a thousand words. The photos are a major part of the item description. Please examine them closely, as what you see is what we will send you.

[note: we grade conservatively and always seek to disclose any noteworthy flaws.].

Sheet and printed image remains well preserved with a nice age patina. Some light age wear or surface spotting/ soiling which is visible within the scan. Normal minor age wrinkling to hand-made paper surface as always for individual sheets of paper now made almost 500 years ago. Paper in the 1500's was all hand-made by laborious labor from pulped cloth rags, so in theory paper will last another 500+ years.

Paper and image remains overall clean & sound. Old maps & prints often display small minor repairs on the back, could have uneven blank margins, might have extraneous soft fold-lines or other small minor age flaws which do not detract from the visual appeal or value. Condition is carefully considered in arriving at our price.

Unique old vintage antique image entirely worthy of hanging for display or giving as a present. If you are seeking an utterly unique gift your recipient will almost certainly not possess, this is it. Almost literally one-of-a-kind artifact from the mid 1500's.

A depiction captured in a manner entirely unique to this era, unlike any modern printed image.

Sheet measures c.  12" H x 7 5/8 " W.

Sea Horse- Hippo printed area measures c.2 3/8 " H x 3 " W

Serpents & Lobsters each measure c. 1 1/2" H x 4 3/4" W.

Tooleys Dictionary of Mapmakers , v. 3, p.296

ven der Wijst, Hollandia Comitatus , 2- describing in detail the many Munster editions as related to a specific map, thus allowing for all other early Munster Latin text maps to thus be positively identified as arising from a particular printing decade. Further provenance details if interested by request.

[R6445]