 is perhaps the best documented of any book printed in the fifteenth century, owing to the survival of the contract between the printer Anton Koberger (ca. 1445-1513) and his financial partners Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister, the contract between Koberger and the artists, and the surviving manuscript exemplars. 

 (1471–1528), godson of Koberger, was apprenticed to Wolgemut from 1486–1489, during the period Wolgemut's shop was busy creating the woodcuts for this volume.

Documents in the Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg, reveal that Schedel was not the sole author. A surviving Latin manuscript template shows the handwriting of seven contributors, with Schedel supplying the largest portion. As the 

 draws on a wide variety of sources, in some cases adapted verbatim, it is perhaps more appropriate to refer to Schedel and his co-writers as compilers rather than authors.

The double-page world map titled ‘Secunda Etas Mundi’ (the Second Age of the World) is a detailed woodcut derived from Ptolemaic projections. Published only months after Christopher Columbus’ return from the West Indies, this map can be considered one of the last pre-Columbian world maps. Seven vignettes to the left of the map and a further fourteen on its reverse feature marvellous beings described by Pliny the Elder that were thought to inhabit the furthermost parts of the earth. Among these are a six-armed man ('gegenees'), a centaur, a four-eyed man from a coastal tribe in Ethiopia, a dog-headed man ('cynocephalus') from the Simien Mountains, a cyclops, a man with a single giant foot ('sciapod'), a man with a huge lower lip, a man with ears hanging down to his waist ('panotti'), and other startling and fanciful creatures.

Geographically, the map is very similar to the small map added to a new edition of 

 in 1482 (see SC-TM-1482-Mela-PWorldMap). Ratdolt was known to have settled in Augsburg after 1486, explaining the availability of his map in Germany. Generally, the map follows the orthodox belief of a landlocked Indian Ocean with a distorted but clear depiction of the lands of the Far East.

The world map is widely regarded as the work of Nuremberg physician and humanist Hieronymous Münzer (1437–1508), who also contributed to the book's text. Münzer, a doctor, humanist, traveller, and polymath, contributed to many of the geographical sections within the volume. He was also a friend of Martin Behaim, the maker of the world’s oldest globe.

Stylistically, Münzer’s map emulates Ratdolt’s 1482 edition in its simplicity, with few features in the interior. This draws particular attention to the great rivers of the world such as the Nile in Egypt and the Volga and Ural, both discharging into the Caspian Sea. This clarity is a marked departure from its predecessors published in Ulm in 1482 and 1486 (see SC-TM-1482-Anon-PWorldMap and SC-TM-1486-Reger-PWorldMap). The major innovation on Münzer’s map is the inclusion of Portuguese discoveries on the west coast of Africa, accounting for the much longer coastline of the continent in comparison to previous Ptolemaic maps. In addition, this map also has a large unidentified island off the west of the continent, perhaps referencing Alvise Cadamosto’s discovery of the Cape Verde Islands in 1456.

’s chronicle has appeared under various names but is generally referred to as the ‘Nuremburg 

’ in English and the ‘Schedelsche Weltchronik’ in German. Though Schedel does give special focus to Nuremburg and German history, a subject he felt was neglected in contemporary chronicles, the ‘Nuremburg 

’ is in fact a history of the world modelled after a longstanding medieval genre. Schedel’s work, however, would far surpass previous chronicles with its ambitious, lavish decoration.

The work contains an astounding 1,809 woodcut illustrations from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut. Among them thirty-one city views and two double-sided maps are also included: this map of the world and another of Europe. 

A beautiful version of the world map from the Nuremberg 

, from the first edition and in original hand colour. The map is on the Ptolemaic projection and was heavily influenced by the simple woodblock world map used to illustrate 

's 'Chronographia'.

This map was printed shortly after Christopher Columbus returned from his travels, and is therefore the last important early map to show the world before the new "discoveries". It features the three sons of Noah, who were believed to have populated the world after a great flood. On the left are images of mythical creatures who were thought to live in the furthest regions of the globe.

 was published the year that Christopher Columbus returned to Europe after reaching the West Indies, although no mention is made of his expedition. On the verso of folio CCLXXXV is a passage relating to the ‘Portuguese voyage of discovery along the coast of Africa in 1483 [1484], under the direction of Diego Cam and Martin Behaim of Nuremberg, which has been used as a basis for the unwarranted theory that the expedition reached America’.

A very fine example, with exceptionally fine hand-colour, of the first edition of the world map from the ‘Nuremberg 

’, published in the year of Christopher Columbus’s return to Europe from the West Indies.

Double-page woodcut map, with contemporary hand-colour.

World Map from the 'Nuremberg Chronicle'