MUENSTER SEBASTIAN. Italia mit dreien fürnemsten Inseln Corsica Sardinia und Sicilia. Basel, Heinrich Petri, 1574.Woodcut engraving, sheet mm 390x330; engraving mm 334x25, hand-painted. Second version of the map of Italy following the Gastaldine model and replacing the previous version used from 1540 to 1578, when all maps were replaced with updated cartographic material based on the editorial work of Abraham Ortelius. It comes from the German edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmografia, published in 1578 under the title 'Cosmographey oder beschreibung aller Länder' by Heinrich Petri in Basel, the most important German geographical work after the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493. It shows Italy and the islands of Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica with Dalmatia to the east. On the verso title within a woodcut border with scenes and grotesques. This is one of the first maps of Italy engraved on wood. It shows the area from Marseilles to Albania, including the Adriatic Sea, as well as the islands of Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia. It has a very simple orographic layout with mole piles, elementary also the hydrography which denotes large rivers and few place names dedicated only to the most important cities. The coastline is very fancifully jagged. In a rectangular box, placed in the lower left sea, the names of cities rivers and mountains are given in Latin and Italian or German. Fine specimen with good margins. Sebastian Muenster (1488-1552) is considered one of the most important German humanists and scholars. He was among the first Europeans to understand Middle Eastern languages and cultures and published several works on this subject as well as on theology, geography and chronology. Borri R. L'Italia nell'antica Cartografia 1477 - 1799, No. 26.