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A highly decorative map of southeast Asia and one of the first printed maps to show any part of Australia. The map was by Willem (Guilielmus) Janszoon Blaeu (1571-1638), the progenitor of the famous Blaeu cartographic firm of Amsterdam. The maps issued by the Blaeu firm are known for their fine craftsmanship and design, and have been called "the highest expression of Dutch cartographical art." This map is a premier example of the Blaeu output. It shows southeast Asia, extending as far north as Japan and west to include India. It was one of the best maps available at the time because Blaeu was the official cartographer for the Dutch East India Co. (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC.), as is indicated by the dedication and coat-of-arms of Laurens Real, Governor-General of the VOC. With access to the information gathered by this company, Blaeu was able to produce a map of great detail showing this region which was the source of most of the wealth of the Dutch.
Of particular interest is one of the first printed depictions of any part of Australia, shown along the bottom and in the bottom right. In 1606, Willem Jansz made what was probably the first landing by a European on Australia, along the Cape York Peninsula (Carpentaria). While Blaeu would have had access to this discovery, the VOC wanted the information kept secret until the they had a chance to see what profit Australia could offer them, so Blaeu suppressed the information until he first showed those discoveries on this map when it was first issued in 1634. Besides the places named along the Cape York Peninsula, Blaeu also shows the results of the explorations, along the northwest coast, of Dirck Hartog ("Landt van d'Eendracht") in 1616 and Gerrit Frederikszoon de Wit ("G.F. de Wits landt") in 1628. $2,800
Emanuel Bowen. "A Map of the Discoveries made by Captn. Willm. Dampier in the Rosebuch in 1699." From John Harris' Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca. or, A Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1744. 7 3/4 x 12 3/8.. Engraving. Very good condition.
A map depicting Timor, the northern coast of New Guinea and New Britain based on the account of William Dampier's 1699. After his voyage around the world, Dampier was commissioned to explore Australia and New Guinea. He landed in western Australia and sailed north past Timor and then along the north of New Guinea. This map shows his tract and includes extensive text on Dampier's exploration. $350
Emanuel Bowen. "A Complete Map of the Southern Continent." From John Harris' Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1744. 14 3/4 x 19. Engraving. As often found, with little to no margin at top (margin added). Old soft crease in center. Overall, very good condition. Clancy: 6.25; Tooley: 241; Schilder: 85.
A most desirable map of Australia. This is the first English map of the region, and it is one of the earliest available separate maps of Australia. "In the seventeenth and the early eighteenth century, only a few printed maps devoted solely to Australia were published-there were Hessel Gerritsz detailed maps of 1627-8 and the map by Melchisedec Thevenot of 1663 and, based on it, that by Edward [sic] Bowen:... Apart from these maps one has to look at world maps or maps of Asia and the East Indies, or of the Pacific and the South Pole, to find Australia." (Schilder, Australia Unveiled, #85) The depiction is most interesting, with Bowen copying Thevenot's map closely. This map was quite important in spreading what knowledge there was of the continent before Cook to the English speaking world. It shows information from the explorations of Tasman, but does not show his route. Coastal details are fairly accurate, with gaps left where ships had not been. While it appears that Australia and New Guinea are connected, Bowen left a gap to allow for the possibility of a strait between the two, a strait that in fact does exist. Bowen includes two long legends of the sort for which he is noted. One of these explains that only what has been actually discovered is shown, and the other describes the presumed riches of the continent. This is a fascinating depiction of the state of cartographic knowledge of 'down under' prior to Cook's discoveries later in the century. $6,800
Mathew Carey. "A New and Accurate Map of New South Wales." Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1814. 10 1/2 x 8 3/4. Engraving. Original outline color. Very good condition. Tooley: 32.
An interesting and attractive map of New South Wales, Australia, that was drawn, engraved, printed, and hand colored in Philadelphia. The map was published by Mathew Carey in 1814, and was from Carey's General Atlas which represented the best American cartographic work of the period. Carey, an Irish immigrant, established the first American specialized cartographic publishing firm. He set up an elaborate cottage system of craftsmen for engraving, printing, and coloring his maps utilizing the best independent artists directed to a common end. Carey is important, then, not only for the excellent maps he produced, but for his setting the pattern for American map publishing, to be followed by the likes of John Melish and Henry S. Tanner. This map of Australia is based on a 1794 map by R. Wilkinson, which used surveys of the coast by Watkin Tench and others for its material. This map would have provided some of the earliest information available to Americans on this continent on the other side of the world. $175
"Western Australia Containing the Settlements of Swan-River and King George's Sound."/"Van-Diemen Island." London: Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK), 1833-40. 12 1/2 x 15 1/2. Engraving. Original outline color. Very good condition.
A map of western Australia by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. This wonderful English enterprise was devoted to the spreading of up-to-date information and the enhancing of understanding. They produced this map of Australia at an early stage in its history. The map waw published just at the end of the era of transportation of convicts to Australia and near the beginning of the colonial development of the continent, which included the establishments of the colonies of South Australia (1834), and North Australia (1838), as well as the beginnings of settlement in Victoria. The geographical and political information shown of this important period in the history of the nation is fascinating. $75
Two maps from John Dower's A New General Atlas of the World. London: H. Teesdale & Co., 1842. Engravings. Original hand color. Very good condition.
The precise and detailed maps from John Dower's atlas are typical of the high quality cartographic output of British map makers in the first half of the nineteenth century. Dower had access to excellent information about the extended British empire (which he always indicated with red on his maps), and these two maps of part of Australia are of particular interest.
Beginning in 1851, John Tallis & Co. issued their Illustrated Atlas, which contained maps of all parts of the world. These detailed maps are particularly known for their decorative borders and the small, finely engraved vignettes of local scenes. These are some of the most interesting mid-nineteenth century maps of Australia.
Go to page with other maps by John Tallis & Co.
J.H. Colton. “Australia.” New York: J.H. Colton & Co., 1855. 13 x 15 3/4. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
A nice example of American cartography. Information of the coast is good, with some inland details given in the southeast, but little of other parts of the interior. $175
J.H. Colton. "Australia." New York: G.W. and C.B. Colton, 1866. 12 3/4 x 16. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
Another Colton map of Australia, this issued about a decade later. $165
“Johnson’s Australia.” New York: Johnson & Ward, 1864. 13 1/4 x 15 1/4. Lithography. Full original hand-color. A few spots from impurities in the paper. Overall, very good condition.
An attractive map of Australia from A.J. Johnson’s mid-nineteenth century atlas of the world. The Johnson firm, out of New York City, went through several manifestations and was one of the leading cartographic publishers in the latter half of the century, producing a large corpus of popular atlases. This finely detailed map is an good example of Johnson’s, and thus early American, cartography. $165
Frank A. Gray. “Gray’s New Map of Australia.” Philadelphia: O.W. Gray & Son, 1878. 13 1/2 x 16 3/4. Lithograph. Original hand color. Very good condition.
The increased detail, especially of the interior, of this American map copyrighted in 1878, shows how much was learned of the continent compared to the maps from the preceding decades (cf. above). Topographical features abound, and many towns, cities and small settlements are indicated. $100
J. Bartholomew. "Australia." From Black's General Atlas of The World. Edinburgh: A. & C. Black, 1884. Lithograph. Original color. Very good condition.
From a series of precisely detailed maps of the world from one of the leading British mapmaking firms of the second half of the nineteenth century. Adam and Charles Black issued atlases from the 1840s through the 80s, keeping their maps as current as possible. This handsome map is a good example of their output. $125
“Australia.” Chicago: Geographical Publishing Co., 1931. 10 x 15. Printed in colors. Very good condition.
A map from between the World Wars issued by a Chicago rival to Rand McNally. $35
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