Page from the Münster Chronick after 1544 Anonymous, German, 16th century This hand colored woodcut was once part of a copy of Cosmographia, a book on geography and astronomy by the German scholar Sebastian Münster (1488-1552). This publication was the earliest German description of the world and a major work in the revival of geographic thought in sixteenth-century Europe. It first appeared in print in 1544 and went through forty subsequent editions. The Cosmographia included descriptions and maps of all parts of the earth known to Europeans at that time, and was accompanied by a discourse on cosmography. Texts were illustrated by intricate diagrams, such as the one depicted here, which could be used as tools to track the movements of the planets and stars, as well as to do specific calculations and measurements on distance or time. This diagram was used to measure the length of days. The main circle symbolizes the earth, with its upper half lit by the sun and the lower half covered i