Two woodcuts – maps of Palestine:
1. Map of Palestine. Hand-colored woodcut, from the first Italian edition of Sei libri della Cosmografia Vniuersale by the cartograph Sebastian Münster. [Basel, 1558].
Map of Palestine and Syria. The shoreline stretches between southern Anatolia and the Nile Delta. Two insets with Italian texts. Woodcut by Hans Rudolf Manuel Deutsch (1525-1571), signed in the plate with initials: RMD.
Italian text in verso, with an in-text woodcut depicting Moses holding the Tablets of the Law (with the Ten Commandments in Hebrew), p. 1076.
Approx. 17X26 cm (matted). Good condition. Minor blemishes.
2. Map of the Land of Canaan. Woodcut from the Czech edition of Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae (Journey through the Sacred Scriptures) by Heinrich Bünting. [Prague, 1592].
Map of the Land of Canaan, depicting the land on both sides of the Jordan River, before the Israelites' entry. The shoreline stretches between Sidon and Gaza. In this map, Jerusalem is called by its early names as well – "Shalem" and "Yevus". Czech text on verso, p. 30.
The book "Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae", by the German priest, theologian and cartographer Heinrich Bünting (1645-1606) was first published in 1581 and was the most complete and comprehensive work on Biblical geography to date. Since then, it was repeatedly reprinted and translated into many languages.
See Laor 139-140 for additional editions of the map.
Engraved map: approx. 16.5X26 cm, matted. Good condition. Stains and minor blemishes. Tears to edges, some open, professionally restored. Slightly trimmed margins.