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1598 Münster View of Szczecin, Poland
Szczecin-munster-1592$175.00
Title
Der herzlichen und weitberhuempten Statt Stettin in Pomern warhaffte abcontrafactur.
1592 (undated) 11 x 14 in (27.94 x 35.56 cm)
1592 (undated) 11 x 14 in (27.94 x 35.56 cm)
Description
This lively view of Szczecin, Poland is among the earliest acquirable printed images of that city, possibly the first.
First Image of Szczecin, Poland?
Although it first appeared in a late 1592 German edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia, the woodcut was executed far earlier. It bears the monogram of formschneider Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch (1525 - 1571). Many of Deutsch's woodcuts were first included in the 1550 editions of Münster's work, and the present image is consistent stylistically with these. And yet, this panorama made its debut long after Deutsch's other works, and long after Münster, Deutsch, and even publisher Heinrich Petri had died.A Medieval Walled City
Situated on the Oder River, near the Baltic Sea, Szczecin is now the capital and primary city of West Pomerania, Poland. At the time, it was a key trade city held by the Dukes of Pomerania. (In the sky above the city, wreathed and ribboned, are the arms of the Duke of Pomerania-Stettin, the House of Griffins.) Hills can be seen in the background. The view presents the city as viewed on the west bank of the Oder, looking from the north. Sailing ships await docking at the city's piers, while ducks paddle in the overgrown moat. The monogram of the formschneider appears on an islet in the moat. Rising above the walls are St. James' Cathedral and other primary churches. Beyond the city gates the face of the city hall is evident. These structures are labeled on the view.Adding to the Cosmographia
From its first printings in 1544, Münster's Cosmographia was notable for maps and views depicting their subjects for the first time in print. In subsequent editions, Münster labored to build the work by ordering improved city views and additional decorative woodcuts. 1550 saw the addition of many maps and views to the body of the work. Münster's spur to do so was the 1548 publication of Johannes Stumpf's magnificently illustrated history of Switzerland, whose woodcut maps and views outstripped those in Cosmographia both in quality and number. Münster knew he had to improve, and commissioned many of the woodcuts that would make his work the most popular.Publication History and Census
This woodcut was executed by the Swiss artist Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch, who produced many of Munster's woodcuts, including his famous panoply of monsters. It would have been drawn and cut prior to Deutsch's 1571 death, and may have been executed as early as those Deutsch produced for Münster for inclusion in the 1550 edition of Cosmographia. We do not see it in print until the 1592 edition of the book, published by Sebastian Petri. Consequently, it appeared in no more than four editions of the work, making it among the rarest of the woodcuts from Münster's book, and from the hand of Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch. The present example conforms typographically to its first edition in 1598 German-text edition of Cosmographia. Four separate examples are listed in OCLC, but the work appears on the market from time to time.CartographerS
Sebastian Münster (January 20, 1488 - May 26, 1552), was a German cartographer, cosmographer, Hebrew scholar and humanist. He was born at Ingelheim near Mainz, the son of Andreas Munster. He completed his studies at the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen in 1518, after which he was appointed to the University of Basel in 1527. As Professor of Hebrew, he edited the Hebrew Bible, accompanied by a Latin translation. In 1540 he published a Latin edition of Ptolemy's Geographia, which presented the ancient cartographer's 2nd century geographical data supplemented systematically with maps of the modern world. This was followed by what can be considered his principal work, the Cosmographia. First issued in 1544, this was the earliest German description of the modern world. It would become the go-to book for any literate layperson who wished to know about anywhere that was further than a day's journey from home. In preparation for his work on Cosmographia, Münster reached out to humanists around Europe and especially within the Holy Roman Empire, enlisting colleagues to provide him with up-to-date maps and views of their countries and cities, with the result that the book contains a disproportionate number of maps providing the first modern depictions of the areas they depict. Münster, as a religious man, was not producing a travel guide. Just as his work in ancient languages was intended to provide his students with as direct a connection as possible to scriptural revelation, his object in producing Cosmographia was to provide the reader with a description of all of creation: a further means of gaining revelation. The book, unsurprisingly, proved popular and was reissued in numerous editions and languages including Latin, French, Italian, and Czech. The last German edition was published in 1628, long after Münster's death of the plague in 1552. Cosmographia was one of the most successful and popular books of the 16th century, passing through 24 editions between 1544 and 1628. This success was due in part to its fascinating woodcuts (some by Hans Holbein the Younger, Urs Graf, Hans Rudolph Manuel Deutsch, and David Kandel). Münster's work was highly influential in reviving classical geography in 16th century Europe, and providing the intellectual foundations for the production of later compilations of cartographic work, such as Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Münster's output includes a small format 1536 map of Europe; the 1532 Grynaeus map of the world is also attributed to him. His non-geographical output includes Dictionarium trilingue in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and his 1537 Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. Most of Munster's work was published by his stepson, Heinrich Petri (Henricus Petrus), and his son Sebastian Henric Petri. More by this mapmaker...
Heinrich Petri (1508 - 1579) and his son Sebastian Henric Petri (1545 – 1627) were printers based in Basel, Switzerland. Heinrich was the son of the printer Adam Petri and Anna Selber. After Adam died in 1527, Anna married the humanist and geographer Sebastian Münster - one of Adam's collaborators. Sebastian contracted his stepson, Henricus Petri (Petrus), to print editions of his wildly popular Cosmographia. Later Petri, brought his son, Sebastian Henric Petri, into the family business. Their firm was known as the Officina Henricpetrina. In addition to the Cosmographia, they also published a number of other seminal works including the 1566 second edition of Nicolaus Copernicus's De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium and Georg Joachim Rheticus's Narratio. Learn More...
Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch (1525–1571) was a Swiss artist and woodcutter. His work appeared in Agricola's De re metallica and for Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia. Deutsch's father, Niklaus Manuel Deutsch (the Elder) and his brother Niklaus were also artists. Learn More...
Source
Münster, S., Cosmographei oder beschreibung aller länder, (Basel: Petri) 1598.
Condition
Very good. Faint marginal soiling, some staining to upper centerfold.
References
OCLC 1288426669.