Asia (7)
1639 Jan Jansson Antique Map of East Indies, Australia - Voyage of Dufken, Spice Islands
Antique Map
- Title : Indiae Orientalis Nova Descriptio
- Ref #: 43144
- Size: 22 1/2in x 19in (570mm x 485mm)
- Date : 1639
- Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
Description:
This beautiful, very significant original antique map of SE Asia, the East Indies PNG and significantly a small portion of the west coast of Australia's Cape York Peninsular was published in the 1639 French edition of Mercator's Atlas published by Henricus Hondius and Jan Jansson.
Condition Report:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Later
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 22 1/2in x 19in (570mm x 485mm)
Plate size: - 20in x 15 1/2in (510mm x 395mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Uniform age toning, bottom centerfold restored
Plate area: - Uniform age toning, centerfold re-joined
Verso: - Uniform age toning
Background: This landmark map is the first published record of the discoveries made by the Dutch ship Dufken on route to Cape York in Australia. New Guinea ("Landt vande Papuos") is marked the (Is)land next to it is called ÔNieu ZeelandtÕ and the island Duyfkens is named after the ship Duyfken.
With the first publication of this map 27 years had passed since the voyage of the Dufken and its discoveries of PNG and NW Australia had been completed. The Dutch East India Company had suppressed the discoveries until it was sure how profitable or not Australia would be.
Jansson & Hondius were the first to published this map in 1630 and it is believed the information was leaked from the Blaeu firm - the official cartographers to the Dutch East India Company. Surprisingly Blaeu did not publish a similar map for another two years. It must have been incredibly galling for Blaeu to have known of the discoveries for nearly thirty years and then to have been beaten to publication by his fiercest rival Jansson & Hondius.
Given this information this is an incredibly significant map of this imporatant region being the first map published with concrete first hand knowledge of the area which prior had been mapped based mainly on speculation or second hand knowledge.
The text running for two pages on the back of the map generally describes the region or country name, history (as it was), temperature, seasons, soil and agricultural productivity. Also described is the topography, wildlife, local inhabitants their culture and religion, as well as a description of major European and local towns and cities. This text makes extremely enjoyable reading and a very good insight not only into the area described but the general European attitudes towards alien countries and cultures. (Ref: Suraz; Koeman; M&B; Tooley)
1730 George Seutter Large Antique Map of Australia, East Indies, SE Asia, China
Antique Map
- Title: India Orientalis cum Adjacentibus Insulis Nova Delineatione ob oculos posita ..Matth. Suettro.
- Date: 1730
- Condition: (A+) Condition
- Ref: 43155
- Size: 25 ½in x 21 ½in (650mm x 545mm)
Description: This large, scarce & beautifully hand coloured original map of Australia & SE Asia was published by Georg Mattraus Seutter in 1730. This is one of the best examples of this map I have seen, especially with the colouring. In excellent condition, a must in any Australian or SE Asian collection.
Condition Report
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original & later
Colors used: - Yellow, pink, green, orange, blue
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 25 ½in x 21 ½in (650mm x 545mm)
Plate size: - 23in x 19 1/4in (580mm x 490mm)
Margins: - Min 1in (25mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
Background: The map extends from China, Japan and Persia in the North and in the south stretching from The Maldives east to Northern Australia. Of note, Australia continues to be attached to Nova Guinea, albeit with some hesitation, as the image extends outside the inner neat-line to convey this information - even though 20+ names are confidently engraved around Northern Australia Coastline. The detail throughout Southeast Asia is informative and up-to-date and the print style typically strong. The cartouche is one of Seutter's most ornate, with elaborate scenes from sea, land, jungle and mythology. This map rarely appears on the market, as it was only included in select copies of Seutters atlas. (Ref: Norwich; M&B; Tooley)
1696 Alexis Hubert Jaillot Large Antique Map of Asia - Saudi Arabia to Australia
Antique Map
- Title : L' Asie divisee en ses Principales Regions....Hubert Jaillot....1696
- Ref #: 17022
- Size: 35 1/2in x 23in (900mm x 585mm)
- Date : 1696
- Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
Description:
This very large original hand coloured antique map of Asia, from Arabia to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia, was engraved in 1696 - dated in title - and was published by Alexis Hubert Jaillot in his monumental Atlas Nouveau.
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 35 1/2in x 23in (900mm x 585mm)
Plate size: - 34 1/2in x 22 1/2in (875mm x 570mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (15mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning in margin
Plate area: - Re-enforced along centerfold, light age toning, old ink text to bottom of map
Verso: - Soiling
Background:
The map include lines of latitude and longitude, some topographical details, location of settlements, rivers, and lakes (including the lakes Parime, thought to be where the fabulous El Dorado was located) as well as the boundaries of the possessions of the European claimants to South America.
Extremely decorative cartouche with dedication to Le Dauphin, and his coat of arms in top.
After Nicolas Sanson, Hubert Jaillot and Pierre Duval were the most important French cartographers of the seventeenth & eighteenth centuries. Jaillot, originally a sculptor, became interested in geography after his marriage to the daughter of Nicolas Berey (1606-65), a famous map colourist, and went into partnership in Paris with Sanson's sons. There, from about 1669, he undertook the re-engraving, enlarging and re-publishing of the Sanson maps in sheet form and in atlases, sparing no effort to fill the gap in the map trade left by the destruction of Blaeu's printing establishment in Amsterdam in 1672. Many of his maps were printed in Amsterdam (by Pierre Mortier) as well as in Paris. One of his most important works was a magnificent sea atlas, Le Neptune François, published in 1693 and compiled in co-operation with J D Cassini. This was re-published shortly afterwards by Pierre Mortier in Amsterdam with French, Dutch and English texts, the charts having been re-engraved. Eventually, after half a century, most of the plates were used again as the basis for a revised issue published by J N Bellin in 1753.(Ref: Tooley; M&B)
1748 Homann Large Antique Map of Australia, Indonesia, China, SE Asia, India
- Title : Carte Des Indes Orientalis...1748
- Ref #: 93411
- Size: 36 1/4in x 21 1/4in (920mm x 540mm)
- Date : 1748
- Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
Description:
This very large original hand coloured copper plate engraved antique map map of India, SE Asia, The East Indies, Philippines, New Guinea & Australia was engraved by Sebastian Dorn in 1748, dated, and published by the Homann firm.
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 36 1/4in x 21 1/4in (920mm x 540mm)
Plate size: - 35 1/2in x 20 1/2in (900mm x 515mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Light soiling
Plate area: - None
Verso: - Light soiling
Background:
The map is based upon the sea charts created by Jean-Batiste de Mannevillette (1707-80), for the first edition of his Le Neptune Oriental, the first sea atlas of Asian Waters. Mannevillette apprenticed under the great royal cartographer Guillaume De L\'Isle. He then joined the maritime service of the Compagnie des Indes, eventually attaining the rank of captain. Upon his return to Paris, Mannevillette was appointed as director of the Dépôt des Cartes et Plans de la Navigation des Indes.
In 1745, Manneveillette published the first edition of his sea atlas of Asian waters, Le Neptune Oriental. The high quality of Mannevillette\'s charts won him the acclaim of both mariners and academics alike, and he was admitted as a fellow of the Academy of Sciences. He published a second, heavily revised, edition of the Neptune Oriental in 1775.
1817 John Thomson Large Antique Map of Asia, New Holland, Australia, New Zealand
- Title : Asia
- Date : 1817
- Size: 28in x 21in (710mm x 535mm)
- Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
- Ref: 92965
Description:
This large magnificent original hand coloured copper-plate engraved antique map of Asia, Australia, New Zealand & The South Pacific by John Thomson was published in the 1817 edition of Thomsons General Atlas
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 28in x 21in (710mm x 535mm)
Plate size: - 22in x 19in (560mm x 485mm)
Margins: - Min 2in (50mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
Background:
The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent (in 1606), are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, and made landfall on 26 February at the Pennefather River near the modern town of Weipa on Cape York. The Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699 on a return trip. In 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain.
With the loss of its American colonies in 1783, the British Government sent a fleet of ships, the First Fleet, under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, to establish a new penal colony in New South Wales. A camp was set up and the flag raised at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, on 26 January 1788, a date which became Australias national day, Australia Day. A British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the western part of Western Australia (the Swan River Colony) in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales: South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, and Queensland in 1859. The Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia. South Australia was founded as a free province—it was never a penal colony. Victoria and Western Australia were also founded free, but later accepted transported convicts. A campaign by the settlers of New South Wales led to the end of convict transportation to that colony; the last convict ship arrived in 1848.
The indigenous population, estimated to have been between 750,000 and 1,000,000 in 1788, declined for 150 years following settlement, mainly due to infectious disease. Thousands more died as a result of frontier conflict with settlers. A government policy of assimilation beginning with the Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 resulted in the removal of many Aboriginal children from their families and communities—often referred to as the Stolen Generations—a practice which may also have contributed to the decline in the indigenous population. As a result of the 1967 referendum, the Federal governments power to enact special laws with respect to a particular race was extended to enable the making of laws with respect to Aborigines.[68] Traditional ownership of land (native title) was not recognised in law until 1992, when the High Court of Australia held in Mabo v Queensland (No 2) that the legal doctrine that Australia had been terra nullius (land belonging to no one) did not apply to Australia at the time of British settlement.
A gold rush began in Australia in the early 1850s and the Eureka Rebellion against mining licence fees in 1854 was an early expression of civil disobedience. Between 1855 and 1890, the six colonies individually gained responsible government, managing most of their own affairs while remaining part of the British Empire. The Colonial Office in London retained control of some matters, notably foreign affairs, defence and international shipping.
1747 Tobias Lotter Antique Miniature Map of Asia, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
Antique Map
- Title : Asia
- Size: 5 1/2in x 4 1/2in (140mm x 115mm)
- Condition: (A) Very Good Condition
- Date : 1747
- Ref #: 93110
Description:
This original copper plate engraved antique miniature map of Asia by Tobias Lotter was published in the 1747 edition of Atlas Geographicus Portatilis XXIX mappis orbis habitabilis regna exhibens.
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Green
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 5 1/2in x 4 1/2in (140mm x 115mm)
Plate size: - 5 1/2in x 4 1/2in (140mm x 115mm)
Margins: - Min 1/4in (5mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - Light age toning
Plate area: - Light age toning
Verso: - Light age toning
1860 Edward Weller Large Antique Map of The Pacific - Australia to California
Antique Map
- Title : The Pacific Ocean
- Ref #: 70063
- Size: 26 1/2in x 19in (675mm x 490mm)
- Date : 1860
- Condition: (A+) Fine Condition
Description:
This original steel plate engraved hand coloured antique map by Edward Weller was published in the 1860 edition of The Dispatch Atlas; a compilation of maps Weller had already published in The Weekly Dispatch.
General Definitions:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stable
Paper color : - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, Green, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 26 1/2in x 19in (675mm x 490mm)
Plate size: - 26 1/2in x 19in (675mm x 490mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (10mm)
Imperfections:
Margins: - None
Plate area: - None
Verso: - None
Weller, Edward 1819 – 1884
Weller was a London-based engraver, cartographer and publisher, working from offices in Red Lion Square and later, Bloomsbury. Amongst his considerable portfolio were various atlases, many of which focussed on the educational publishing market. Having established his credentials as an engraver of finely detailed works, he sold maps to be published in a number of regular magazines and pamphlets, perhaps the best known being The Dispatch Atlas; a compilation of maps Weller had already published in The Weekly Dispatch. Although Weller usually engraved the maps himself, he did work in partnership with others, particularly John Dower for this 1858 and 1863 volume. Weller also published The Crown Atlas in 1871.
The Dispatch Atlas featured well over one hundred superbly detailed steel plate engraved maps, usually with simplistic, single colour outline hand colouring, and a distinctive header style. Most English counties featured, some of which were divided onto separate sheets, affording space to engrave in even greater detail. The maps of North and South Devonshire for example include such details as individual property names, as do those of the Northern and Southern parts of Hampshire.
After Wellers death in 1884, many of these astonishingly detailed plates were sold on to other map makers, including George Washington Bacon, who, whilst retaining the level of detail, expanded the printing area of each plate, adding more precise and varied hand colouring in keeping with the final decades of the century.






