Typus Universalis - Sebastian Münster, 1542. (World Map Wall Art)
This map gives you a 16th century view of the whole world on one print. The land is drawn inside a long oval, with clouds, wind heads, ships and sea creatures around the edge, all printed on warm parchment style paper. It has a strong “old atlas” feel and works well in a study or library next to books, dark wood and brass details.

About this map print
Typus Universalis is an early world map by Sebastian Münster, printed in Basel in the 1540s for Latin editions of his book Geographia. The map uses an oval view of the world and shows Europe, Africa and Asia together with a new outline of the Americas, so it sits between older Ptolemaic style maps and later atlas maps.
 
Across the oceans you can see a wide southern sea, early coastlines for North and South America and a note about a possible passage toward Asia, which reflects how educated Europeans imagined the world right after the big voyages of discovery. The Pacific Ocean is named “Mare Pacificum,” and the strait at the tip of South America is marked as the route used by Magellan, making this one of the first widely available maps to use those names. Around the frame, twelve wind heads blow in from all sides, a typical Münster touch that also appears on his later world maps and helps tie this map to other 16th century views of the globe.
 
Craft & finish
This antique world map print is made on hand processed paper. We add subtle gold by hand and seal the surface with beeswax, so it feels close to real parchment when you hold it. The paper catches the light softly, but colors may look a little different from screen to screen.
 
Find more prints like this in our Antique Maps collection.