Old, antique map of the world as a clover leaf by H. Bünting. 1581
Die Gantze Welt in ein Kleberblat / welches in der Stadt Hannover / meines Lieben Vaterlandes Wapen
Item Number: 4189 Authenticity Guarantee
Category: Antique maps > World and Polar
Old, antique map of the world as a clover leaf by H. Bünting.
Woodcut
Size: 27 x 36cm (10.5 x 14 inches)
Verso text: German
Condition: New side margins, centrefold repaired, marginal soiling.
Condition Rating: B
References: Shirley (World), 142.
From: Itinerarium Sacrae Scriptura . . . Magdeburg, 1581- ....
Heinrich Bünting, a theological commentator from Hanover, first published his Itinerarium in 1581. It is illustrated by several curious woodcut maps. The first of two world maps shows the three principal continents, Europe, Asia and Africa, arranged in the form of a clover leaf with Jerusalem at the centre, a device suggested by the arms of Bünting's native town Hanover. Three countries lie outside this trefoil: England, Scandinavia, and in the lower left-hand corner, America. The wavely-engraved sea contains monsters and mermaids, and the whole map is a veritable cartographical oddity.
