Cosmography (1540) - Page 12

⚠A large brown liquid stain obscures the central portion of the page, affecting the illustrations and parts of the text.

The page features two woodcut diagrams: 1\. A large upper diagram depicting a celestial and terrestrial projection. A wide celestial sphere filled with stars is shown at the top. Below it sits a smaller terrestrial globe showing landmasses. At the bottom, a human eye looks upward, with lines of perspective radiating from it through the terrestrial globe toward the celestial sphere. 2\. To the lower right, a separate terrestrial globe is depicted tilted on its axis, showing the continents labeled as "EVROPA", "ASIA", "AFRICA", and "AMERICA". A large, irregular brown stain covers the center of the first diagram and the space between the two illustrations.

What Geography is.

Geography (as Werner says in his paraphrase) is a certain formula and pictorial imitation of the principal and known parts of the earth itself—insofar as the whole known world is constituted from them—and of any of the more notable features which are joined to such parts of the earth. And it differs from Cosmography because it distinguishes the earth by mountains, rivers, and seas, and other more notable things, without applying any account of circles. It is of the greatest benefit to those who desire to have an exact knowledge of history and fables. For a picture, or the imitation of a picture, very easily brings the order and position of places to memory. Therefore, the completion and end of Geography consists in a view of the whole world, in imitation of those who represent the entire likeness of a head with suitable paintings.