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Il Cuscho Citta Principale Della Provincia Del Peru.
[Basel: Heinrich Petri?, 1572?]. Woodcut, 10.75” x 14.6875”; letterpress and woodcut of Mexico City, “De Novis Insulis Urbs Themistitana Hispaniæ Novæ Metropolis,” 6.5” x 6.25”, on verso. CONDITION: Very good, light foxing and some toning to margins, repaired .5” separation in lower margin along central vertical fold, not affecting printed area. An appealing early view of Cusco, Peru, in its final days as the Inca capital, published during the early decades of Spanish rule. The verso features a plan of Tenochtitlan and a note on Madeira. This splendid view of Cusco was published in a Latin edition of Münster’s landmark work, Cosmographia Universalis, a comprehensive description of world cities. It is based on a view which first appeared in the third volume of Raccolta di Navigationi et Viaggi (1556), an important work published by Giovanni Battista Ramusio with maps and views by Giacomo Gastaldi. The view shows Cusco on the eve of its conquest, with Spanish riders approaching Inca guards outside the city’s walls, which are depicted in a European style. Inside the city—featuring a grid plan and irrigation networks—attendants carry “Atabalipa” (Atahualpa, the last Inca emperor) on a litter while facing Sacsayhuamán, a citadel overlooking the city. From this, it can be established that the view is from the southwest. Cusco is believed by some scholars to have been designed in the shape of a puma, with Sacsayhuamán as the head. In this view, however, its shape has been simplified to a rectangle. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and seat of the Sapa Inca (emperor). It was also the cosmological center of the empire, whose territory was divided into four provinces that converged in the city. The 1532 Battle of Cajamarca saw Atahualpa overthrown and executed the following year by Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro. Around the time of the publication of this view in the 1570s, Spain defeated the last Inca resistance—the Neo-Incan rump state led by Tupac Amaru—and established the Viceroyalty of Peru. Above the upper border is a heading in Latin, reading “Portrait of the illustrious city of Cusco, which is the principal city in the Kingdom of Peru.” The verso includes, on the left, a fine plan of Tenochtitlan and a brief (unrelated) note addressing the cultivation of Madeira. On the right, it includes the title page of the Cusco map, which reads in Latin: “The City of Cusco, the principal city in that part of the New World which is called the Terra Firma, a true depiction.” Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) was one of the most important cartographers of the sixteenth century, along with Mercator and Ortelius. He was a noted mathematician and linguist, serving as professor of Hebrew at Heidelberg University, before moving to Basel. Münster published the Cosmographia beginning in 1544. Considered the first German language description of the world, Cosmographia is a compilation of maps and views from around the world, with detailed encyclopedic descriptions. The work proved highly popular and was widely translated. The second work for which Münster is best known is his version of Ptolemy's Geographia (1541–52). Using primarily woodcut, Münster is considered the first cartographer to provide a distinct map of the four known continents, and the first to separately publish a map of England. Heinrich Petri (1508–1579) was a printer based in Basel, the stepson of Sebastian Münster, who produced many of the cuts in Cosmographia. His son, Sebastian Petri (1546–1627), was also a printer who reissued Cosmographia after Münster’s death until 1628. REFERENCES: Moreland, Carl and David Bannister. Christie’s Collector’s Guide: Antique Maps (Oxford: Phaidon / Christie’s Limited, 1986), pp. 66, 78–82, 289.
Item #9647
Price: $575.00
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