The Sixteenth-Century World
This early anthology of the lands and peoples of the Americas, includes letters and descriptions of the voyages of Marco Polo, Columbus, and Vespucci. A truly remarkable feature of the work is a world map, possibly drawn by Sebastian Münster, and, in part, by Hans Holbein the Younger. The Americas are clearly depicted, based partly on the world as configured by the Johann Schöner globes or on Peter Apian's map of 1520, and showing the influence of the ideas of Copernicus. The scenes and vignettes that surround the oval projection are particularly interesting images, reflecting European views of this new world as a place where cannibals, monsters, and other dangers lurked.
Simon Grynaeus (1493-1541) and Johann Huttich (1490-1544).
Novus Orbis Regionum ac Insularum Veteribus Incognitarum. (A New Region of the World. . . .).
Basel: Johann Hervagius, 1532
Jay I. Kislak Collection
Rare Book and Special Collections Division (38)
