1548 STUMPF, J. - woodcut printed map of Europe with South to the top

Very early woodcut-printed map of Europe with South to the top. In the lower-left corner, we see Poland, Livonia, and parts of England and Ireland; in the lower right corner, we see Portugal and the tip of Africa. Portugal and the tip of Africa in the upper right, and Sardinia, Sicily, and Peloponnesus in the upper right too left.
The seas are filled with sea monsters and sailing ships. According to van der Heijden after the map of Europe by Waldseemueller-Münster. Originally engraved in 1548 Included in "Landtaflen. Hierinn findst du lieber Läser schöner recht und wolgemachter Landtaflen XII namlich ein Allgemeine Europae demnach etlich besondere als dess Tütschenlands Franckreychs und der allgemeinen Eygnoschafft. . ."

The maps are prepared by Johannes Stumpf (1500-1576) and the maps are engraved by Heinrich I. Vogtherr (1490-1556) from Strassburg.
The atlas was basically the first atlas of Switzerland and one of the first, if not the first, national atlases of any European country.
In 1548 Stumpff published his famous chronicle of Switzerland, which included 23 maps. (10 from Honter's Rudimenta cosmographica, Zurich 1546, and 13 new ones).In 1562 the present atlas was first published, containing all these 13 maps. In 1566 a second edition was issued without the world map on the title page.

Reference: H.A.M. van der Heijden De oudste gedrukte kaarten van Europa, map 11, cover illustration.

Johann Stumpf (1500-1578)

Johann Stumpf was an early writer on the history and topography of Switzerland. He was born in Bruchsal (near Karlsruhe) and was educated there, in Strasbourg, and in Heidelberg. In 1520 he became a cleric or chaplain in the order of the Knights Hospitaller. He was sent in 1521 to the preceptory of that order at Freiburg in Breisgau, ordained a priest at Basel, and in 1522 was placed in charge of the preceptory at Bubikon (north of Rapperswil (SG), in the canton of Zürich). However, Stumpf went over to the Protestants, was present at the great Disputation in Bern (1528), and took part in the first Kappel War (1529). The Swiss region around Zurich.
In 1529 he married the first of his four wives, a daughter of Heinrich Brennwald, who wrote a work (still in manuscript) on Swiss history, and stimulated his son-in-law to undertake historical studies. Stumpf made wide researches, with this object, for many years, and undertook also several journeys, of which that in 1544 to Engelberg and through the Valais seems to be the most important, perhaps because his original diary has been preserved to us. The fruit of his labours (completed at the end of 1546) was published in 1548 at Zürich in a huge folio of 934 pages (with many fine wood engravings, coats of arms, maps, &c.), under the title of Gemeiner loblicher Eydgnoschafft Stetten, Landen und Voelckeren Chronick wirdiger thaaten Beschreybung (an extract from it was published in 1554, under the name of Schwytzer Chronika, while new and greatly enlarged editions of the original work were issued in 1586 and 1606). The woodcuts are best in the first edition, and it remained till Scheuchzer's day (early 18th century) the chief authority on its subject. Swiss nobleman by Heinrich Vogtherr, Private Collection
When he converted to Protestantism, Stumpf had carried over most of his parishioners, whom he continued to care for as the Protestant pastor at Bubikon till 1543. He then served as pastor of Stammheim (today Oberstammheim and Unterstammheim) until 1561, when he retired to Zürich (of which he had been made a burgher in 1548), where he lived in retirement until his death in 1576.

Stumpf also published a monograph (remarkable for the date) on Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor (1556), and a set of laudatory verses (German: Lobsprüche) for each of the thirteen Swiss cantons.