A German Carthusian monk and humanist scholar responsible for one of the earliest printed encyclopaedias of general knowledge. Reisch studied at the University of Freiburg before taking orders as a monk. Reisch was also confessor of Maximilian I. In his travels, he became friends with the most celebrated Humanists of the time, including Erasmus. From 1503, Reisch was the author of a highly popular textbook on moral and natural philosophy; early editions contain his elegant world map on a Ptolemaic projection.

Reisch's Wind Head Map showing lands unknown to Ptolemy, surrounded by 12 Wind Heads