MUNSTER Sébastien. Cosmographie universelle, contenant la situation de toutes les parties du monde... Bâle, Henry Pierre, 1568; 3 parts bound in one very large vol. small in-folio of [2] ff. (title and first leaf of address to the reader), 14 double maps out of pagination, [12] ff. of tables, 1402 pp. 18th-century brown calf, very rubbed and gnawed in places, spine ribbed, red edges. French edition of this remarkable work, originally published in German in 1544. Its aim was to describe the entire known world in the mid-sixteenth century, both geographically and in terms of the history and customs of its peoples. The volume contains innumerable woodcuts: 55 double- or triple-page maps or views, 75 full-page views and almost 900 vignettes: portraits, costumes, trades, landscapes, diagrams, real or imaginary exotic animals, etc. Annotations in a contemporary hand, especially at the beginning. The portrait and the introductory pieces are missing, but the two maps of the "universal world" are present and the body of the volume is complete. Some leaves soiled and creased, with repairs, title page missing.