Johann Schöner’s Globe of 1515 is a transcription, translation, and study of the toponyms and legends on Johann Schöner’s globe of 1515, one of the earliest surviving globes produced following the discovery of America. This important globe has never been the subject of a detailed study. Chet Van Duzer investigates Schöner’s sources and discusses the similarities and differences between Schöner’s globe and contemporary maps and globes, particularly Martin Waldseemüller’s world map of 1507. One of Schöner’s iconographical sources for the sea monsters on his globe was the Hortus sanitatis, an anonymous illustrated encyclopedia first published in 1491. The differences between the two surviving exemplars of the globe are also examined; these differences are surprising, as the globe is printed. Van Duzer demonstrates that the Weimar exemplar of the globe was heavily restored at some point in its history, and thus is a less reliable witness of Schöner’s cartography. This book is an extremely useful tool for anyone investigating the geography and cartography of the early sixteenth century.

Van Duzer’s study of the globes made by the astronomer and mathematician Johannes Schöner is a work of admirable and patient scholarship, not only for the detailed analysis of Schöner’s work, but also for the wider window that it opens on the practice of cartography in the late 15th and early 16th century. This book is required reading for anyone interested in Schöner, Waldseemüller, Renaissance mapmaking, or the production of geographic knowledge after the time of Ptolemy.
     John W. Hessler, Senior Cartographic Librarian, Library of Congress
 
Johannes Schöner is a highly important but long-neglected figure in the early history of globemaking. Chet Van Duzer’s new book provides the first detailed and reliable study of Schöner’s terrestrial globe of 1515. This meticulous work is an opus diu desideratum, and a model of how such research should be done.
     Dr. Peter H. Meurer, Map Historian, Heinsberg, Germany

The study is a decidedly significant contribution to knowledge, being inevitably linked to the other globes, maps, and textual material, especially of the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Of these, by far the most important is Waldseemüller’s world map of 1507. The research is astonishingly up-to-date and detailed, tracking down a number of valuable, little-known sources. The quotations and translations are excellent. Academics will surely be much indebted to Van Duzer for this; I certainly am.
     William A. R. Richardson, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia