Pfinzing Atlas
Title
Pfinzing Atlas
Description
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)
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)
Creator
Paul Pfinzing
Source
Nuremberg, Staatsarchiv
Format
Atlas
Publisher
Pfinzing, Paul. Der Pfinzing-Atlas von 1594 : Faksimile. Nürnberg: Staatsarchiv Nürnberg, 1994.
Date
1594
Medium
wood cut
Contributor
Special Collections, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
whitej3
Language
German
Type
Regional map
Spatial Coverage
Bavaria, Nuremberg (Germany)
References
Buisseret, David. Rural Images: Estate Maps in the Old and New Worlds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Fleischmann, Peter. Der Pfinzing-Atlas von 1594: eine Ausstellung des Staatsarchivs Nürnberg anlässlich des 400jährigen Jubiläums der Entstehung: Nürnberg, 9. September-23. Oktober 1994. München: Selbstverlag der Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Archive Bayerns, 1994.
Lindgren, Uta. "Land Surveys, Instruments, and Practitioners in the Renaissance." In History of Cartography vol. 3, part 1 Cartography in the European Renaissance, ed. David Woodward, 477-508. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Fleischmann, Peter. Der Pfinzing-Atlas von 1594: eine Ausstellung des Staatsarchivs Nürnberg anlässlich des 400jährigen Jubiläums der Entstehung: Nürnberg, 9. September-23. Oktober 1994. München: Selbstverlag der Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Archive Bayerns, 1994.
Lindgren, Uta. "Land Surveys, Instruments, and Practitioners in the Renaissance." In History of Cartography vol. 3, part 1 Cartography in the European Renaissance, ed. David Woodward, 477-508. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Rights
Rights for maps held by individual publishers and institutions. Thumbnails displayed constitute fair use.
Collection
Citation
Paul Pfinzing, “Pfinzing Atlas,” Mapping the World, accessed April 30, 2025, https://hist231.hist.sites.carleton.edu/items/show/17.