Subject: Africa
Period: 1772 (dated)
Publication:
Color: Hand Color
Size:
48.3 x 20.4 inches
122.7 x 51.8 cm
A superb, four-sheet map based on the cartography of the famous French cartographer Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville. The map provides a very detailed view along the coastline, with numerous towns and capes noted, and the topography and river system is depicted. While there is an evolving understanding of the kingdoms and tribes in the interior, the Nile River is still shown as originating from two adjacent lakes in Central Africa. There is a small inset of the Azores at top, and a sizable inset depicting the Gold Coast at bottom covering the mineral rich area from Cape Appollonia to Cape Montego. The map is surrounded with extensive descriptions of the continent and its kingdoms and tribes, and adorned by a large decorative title cartouche featuring natives gathered around a feast. This example is joined in two long, horizontal sheets, joining the two northern and the two southern sheets. If fully joined, the map would measure approximately 48 x 41".
References:
Condition: B+
Issued folding on watermarked paper with light offsetting and minor soiling. The top sheet has a few short repaired edge tears at right and some extraneous creasing adjacent to the left fold. Other minor edge tears and chips are confined to the blank margins. The first image is a composite image - only the two northern and two southern sheets are joined, as described.