Conrad of Megenberg, The Universe, 15th Century

Before the sun-centered ideas of Copernicus, the traditional geocentric or earth-centered universe was usually depicted by concentric circles. In this 15th century woodcut the seven known planets are contained within straight horizontal bands which separate the Earth below from Heaven, populated by the saints, above. Conrad of Megenberg (1309 - 1374) was a German Catholic scholar, and a writer. His best-known and most widely read work is his Buch der Natur, a survey of all that was known of natural history at that time. The work has eight chapters: 1) the nature of man, 2) sky, 7 planets, astronomy and meteorology, 3) zoology, 4) ordinary and aromatic trees, 5) plants and vegetables, 6) invaluable and semi-precious stones, 7) 10 kinds of metals, and 8) water and rivers. This was the first natural history written in German, and the series of woodcuts in the first edition were the first natural history book illustrations. There were also two woodcuts of plants - the first botanical woodcuts in a printed book. Un-numbered edition published in 1481

Picture No

12696294

Media ID

47668635

Size

3054px x 4500px (4.0MB)

Credit

LOC/Rare Book Selections/Science Source/Mary Evans