1585 Bunting Map of the World as a Clover Leaf

This is Heinrich Bünting's map of the world, dramatically presented as a clover leaf. No other early map utilized this configuration. This beautiful woodcut appeared in Bünting's Itinerarium Sacrae, the first and for many years the only complete work of biblical geography. As such, this map's central positioning of Jerusalem and the Red Sea - recalling medieval mappamundae - is appropriate. The map's puzzling trefoil shape, with Asia, Africa and Europe each given a leaf, invokes Ptolemy's three parts of the world, as well as the medieval T-O map's tripartite form. The map's title, however, gives insight to Bünting's motivation for producing so singular an image: Die gantze Welt in ein Kleeberblat, welches ist der Stadt Hannover, Meines lieben Vaterlandes Wapen translates to:

The Whole World in a Cloverleaf, Which is the Arms of my Dear Fatherland, Hanover.

Bünting is using the centerpiece map of his book to tip his hat to his home town.

Publication History and Census

This map first appeared in Bünting's Itinerarium in 1581, and appeared in the work's many editions for the rest of the century There are at least three blocks that were used to print the map: the first block appears to have only been used in 1581 and 1582 Helmstadt editions of the book. A second was cut, probably in 1585, for the Magdeburg editions (the present example is of this second block.) It stayed in use from then, with typographical variations, until 1598. The sole 1585 Leipzig edition used its own blocks. The map has long been a justifiable favorite of collectors, and has a long record of appearances at auction and in dealers' catalogues, though attractive examples are becoming harder to source. Perhaps ten examples of the separate map appear in OCLC. The Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae appears in many editions in institutional collections.