Tabula Asiae VIII

Tabula Asiae VIII
[Basel ca 1550]
| 42.1 x 33 cm | one map
Original map, titled and heightened in colors by a contemporary hand. Published for the first time in 1540 in Munster's Geographia.
Central fold. Two repairs with paper strips to verso and two little wormholes without consequence.
A very good copy of one of the most important maps of monsters from the 16th century, done by one of the most famous mapmakers of the Renaissance.
The map covers the territories of Central Asia as well as Tibet and Nepal.
One finds, at the edges of the topography, three kinds of congenital deformations (monopods, headless men, and
people with the heads of dogs) as well as a legendary bird.
All these creatures emerged from the superstitions of the Middle Ages, based on accounts by travelers who had preceded Marco Polo into Central Asia. Also worth noting is a scene showing cannibalism in the North part of the map.