The Pfinzing Atlas is a bound collection (47 x 70 cm) of twenty-eight maps and descriptions that was created in 1594 by Nuremberg merchant Paul Pfinzing. Pfinzing was one of the earliest cartographers to utilize and describe in writing a measuring table for surveying land (1589). This same method was used in the Pfinzing Atlas. The maps vary greatly in scope and size, with city maps (Nuremberg, see thumbnail) and regional maps that show a late-1500s view of the landscape surrounding Nuremberg. The maps show cities, bodies of water, different regions and the ownership that is associated with them, and the natural landscape. Pfinzing uses several different mapping styles, and the reader is shown the German landscape at varying scales; detailed scenes of farmer life are found right next to a map that shows the regional divisions of a forest. (Joe White '21)
Pfinzing, Paul. Der Pfinzing-Atlas von 1594 : Faksimile. Nürnberg: Staatsarchiv Nürnberg, 1994.
Special Collections, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
Rights for maps held by individual publishers and institutions. Thumbnails displayed constitute fair use.
Carleton Gould Library Special Collections (Horizontal Shelving) GA875.N85 P47 1994