GEORG BRAUN (1541–1622), FRANS HOGENBERG (c. 1539–1590) Moscauw, Moscovia, urbs regionis eiusdem nominis metropolitica, duplo maior... [Moscow, Muscovy, capital of the region of the same name, twice as large as Prague in Bohemia...]. Cologne, 1575.

Copper engraving with contemporary hand colouring. Latin text on the reverse. 39 x 52 cm. Collectible condition. Published in ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’. Re-engraved version of the first known printed plan of Moscow. ‘Moscow, capital of the region of the same name, twice as large as Prague in Bohemia, has wooden buildings and many streets...’ Sheet from the famous six-volume atlas ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’ prepared by the German cartographers Georg Braun and Franz Hogenberg. The atlas was published in Latin in 1572-1622; each volume was followed by German and French editions. The present example comes from the German edition of 1575. The plan was drawn, possibly from memory, by Sigismund von Herberstein (1486-1566) and was published in the editions of his book ‘Rerum Moscoviticarum’ from 1556 onwards, one of the first Western European printed sources on Russia. The plan is decorated with figures taken from the original edition of Herberstein’s work. Franz Hogenberg (1540-1590) was one of the greatest German engravers of the 16th century. Klepikov, no. 5g