| Method | Copper engraved with hand colour |
| Artist | Blome, Richard |
| Published | This Mapp in all Humility is Dedicated, by your Majesties obedient subject and sarvant, Richard Blome. [London, c.1670] |
| Dimensions | 385 x 525 mm |
| Notes |
A decorative double-hemisphere English world map, engraved by Blome for his Geographical Description Of The Four Parts Of The World. The cartography follows closely that of Nicolas Sanson's 1651 world map, though omits his treatment of the strait of Anian and the north west coast of North America. In the western hemisphere, California is shown as an island, Greenland is joined to the northern Canadian coasts, New Guinea is shown separate from Carpentaria, and a coastline of New Zealand is identifiable. Antarctica is still rendered as a largely unknown southern continent labelled 'Magellanique Land', though the Tierra del Fuego is shown correctly as an archipelago. In the eastern hemisphere, Japan is shown at right angles to the Korean peninsula, and Australia has been separated from the 'Magelanick Land,' but is presented in a very unusual shape, with 'Beach' shown prominently, a popular misreading of Marco Polo's Locach. In the spaces at top and bottom of the plate, a series of armorial embellishments are included, including the Lion and Unicorn of England and Scotland, the Royal Arms flanked by sprigs of rose and thisle, and a large run of floral swagging supporting a baroque cartouche featuring a dedication 'To the Most High and Mighty Monarch, Charles the Second, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defendor of the Faith &c.' Although the decoration of the plate is sometimes attributed to Hollar, it was most likely contributed by Francis Lamb. Full title above map reads: 'A Mapp or Generall Carte of the World, Designed in two Plaine Hemisphers, by Monsieur Sanson Geographr to the French King and Rendered into English and Illustrated with Figures by Richard Blome. By the Kings Especiall Command.' Richard Blome was one of the most active map-publishers of his day, working between about 1667 and 1705. His principal publications were the 'Geographical Description of the World', and two county atlases, the 'Britannia', published in 1673, and 'Speed's Maps Epitomiz'd', published in 1681. Blome first began engraving maps for his Geographical Description Of The Four Parts Of The World in 1667. The completed volume was in small folio, and contained 24 maps (plus one duplicated), engraved by Francis Lamb, Thomas Burnford, and Wenceslaus Hollar. Blome has been heavily criticised as a plagiarist, but he lacked the capital to be innovative (as indeed did virtually all his contemporaries), and his output filled an important gap in the market. The 'Geographical Description' was the first new, and uniformly assembled, folio world atlas to be published in London since 1627, while the next folio world atlases appeared in the decade 1710-1720. Nicolas Sanson d'Abbeville (1600 - 1667) was a French engraver and cartographer, and Geographer to Louis XIII and Louis XIV. As well as world maps, he also issued a series of historic maps to accompany popular classical texts like Caesar's Gallic Wars. After his death, he was succeeded by his sons Adrien and Guillaume, who frequently sign their work Sanson fils. Francis Lamb (fl.1667-1701) was an English engraver and mapmaker who operated from Newgate Street, London, in the latter half of the seventeenth-century. Lamb worked in conjunction with many of the most prominent English map publishers of the time. These personages included Richard Blome, John Ogilby, John Seller, Moses Pitt, and Captain Greenville Collins, amongst others. He was also employed by Robert Morden and William Berry for the Pocket Book of Ireland, and produced plates of Northern America which were included in the 1676 Basset and Chiswell edition of John Speed's 'A Prospect of the Most Famovs Parts of the World.' Though little is known of Lamb's personal life, he appears to have been a pupil of the British scientist Robert Hooke, as evinced by regular references to him in the polymath's journals, and the engravings of his which appear in the 'Micrographia', 1665. Shirley 455 Condition: Pressed vertical and horizontal folds, as issued. Trimmed to neatline at bottom and right, as issued, now professionally remargined. Minor creases to edges of sheet. Repaired tears and filled holes to folds. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £2,250.00 |
| Stock ID | 51855 |