Edinburgh, 1550
Welcome to Cosmographia — histories of the earth and the stars. For the full map of posts, see here.
In 1544, the German cartographer Sebastian Münster published the first edition of his Cosmographia — an attempt to set down all human knowledge into a single book. The endeavour was as dazzling as it was preposterous. As Münster wrote in his preface, “the art of cosmography concerns itself not only with the countries, habitations and lives of the various people of the earth, but also with strange animals, trees, the habits, customs, laws, and governments of men”. Münster was writing at the height of the Renaissance, only fifty years after Columbus had returned from the Americas. His sixteenth century readers were taken on a tour of the newly emerging world, with descriptions of the earth’s geography, history, theology, and astronomy accompanying drawings of cities, sea monsters, and maps of hitherto unknown lands. Cosmographia quickly became one of the bestselling books of the sixteenth century.
This newsletter takes its name from works like Münster’s.
I’ve long wanted to do something to mark the connection between this newsletter and those dusty, mediaeval volumes. And now I am. I’ve had 50 prints made of one of Cosmographia’s most beautiful woodcuts: Münster’s 1550 view of Edinburgh — the city where I live and write to you from.
It is a strange and wonderful image. The royal palace — then home to Mary, Queen of Scots — looms over a dense forest of spires. In front lies the port of Leith; the loch behind not yet drained and turned into Waverley train station. The Firth of Forth stretches out in the foreground, labelled Brachium maris (arm of the sea), while the extinct volcano, Arthur’s Seat, rises out of the earth at the back. The building in which I live, being only a paltry two centuries old, does not yet shadow the grass on the right hand side of the picture.
This woodcut is in fact the earliest depiction of Edinburgh known to history. And it could be yours.
The next 50 readers who take out an annual paid subscription to Cosmographia, will receive a free A5 print of this woodcut in the post — professionally printed, ready to frame.
A paid subscription to Cosmographia costs £50 per year (less than £1 a week). In return, you’ receive:
3x articles per week on art, history, and mythology
Unlimited access to the entire archive (250+ articles and essays)
And now: a 16th-century woodcut of Edinburgh for your wall
There are 50 prints. When they’re gone, they’re gone.
(If any existing paid subscribers are reading this, fear not: I’ll be in touch separately about something for you too.)
Thank you for reading,
M.E. Rothwell
