Sebastian Münster (1489 - 1552) was a German mathematician and linguist at the University of Heidelberg, and from 1529, at the University of Basle. He is known primarily for two works, Cosmographia and (an edition of Ptolemy's) Geographia.

The Cosmographia was first published in 1544 consisting mainly of woodcut prints. It would be re-issued in multiple languages and versions for nearly a century by his step-son Henri Petri (last Petri version was in 1628). Many of the later versions substituted copper-plate engravings for the earlier woodcuts.

Many of the woodcuts and engravings from these works are commonly attributed to Münster although a significant number were by others who contributed throughout the various versions.

Additional woodcuts can be found on the Munster Woodcuts (2) page.

MunsterMonster.jpg - 742740 bytes More "Medieval Monsters" with descriptions can be found on the Mandeville Monster page.	MunsterRam.jpg - 131919 bytes
MunsterCanibals.jpg - 249605 bytes(See Note) MunsterCannibals.jpg - 249605 bytes	MunsterCamel.jpg - 314557 bytes
MunsterBear.jpg - 114616 bytes	MunsterGoats.jpg - 326402 bytes

Note: Because the term "canibals" is the most popular search term to get to this site I retain the misspelled version for convenience.