Sebastian Munster's Cosmographia

1544

The German geographer Sebastian Muenster published his Cosmographia, a richly illustrated description of the known world that became the most widely read geographical work of the sixteenth century. Readers in Frankfurt and Lyon pored over its woodcut marvels and its descriptions of cannibals in Brazil and elephants in Cathay. Over forty editions in six languages made it one of the sixteenth century's best-selling books.