- Title: A General Map of the World, or Terraqueous Globe, with all the new discoveries and marginal delineations, containing the most interesting particulars in the Solar, Starry and mundane sytem
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Author: Samuel Dunn
- Date: 1794
- Condition: See description
- Inches: 50 1/8 x 41 1/2 [Paper]
- Centimeters: 127.31 x 105.41 [Paper]
- Product ID: 308670
This magnificent large-format world map stands among the most visually impressive wall maps produced at the close of the 18th century. The grand double-hemisphere depiction of the world is richly surrounded by celestial hemispheres, a diagram of the solar system, an inset world map on Mercator’s projection, a detailed map of the moon based on Father Riccioli’s observations, and an engaging explanation of the Vicissitude of Seasons, illustrated with a striking image of the sun. The main map traces the routes and discoveries of several major voyages, including those of George Anson, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Lazier Bouvet, Aleksei Chirikov, and James Cook.
Originally published in 1772 by Robert Sayer under the title Scientia Terrarum et Coelorum: or, the Heavens and Earth Astronomically and Geographically Delineated and Display’d..., the map was revised and reissued numerous times over the following three decades. Later Sayer editions appeared in 1781 and 1784 under the same title, with an updated title—A General Map of the World, or Terraqueous Globe—used for the 1787 issue.
This 1794 edition by Laurie & Whittle reflects significant advancements in cartography informed largely by Cook’s second and third voyages. The outlines of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest are now more accurately defined, with many new coastal place names. The speculative entrances of Admiral Fonte, Juan de Fuca, and Martin d’Aguilar, seen on earlier editions, have been removed. Remarkably, this edition proposes two potential locations for the legendary River of the West: one linking to R. St. Charles and Lake Winnipeg, and another extending toward Pikes Lake and Mantons River. Updates based on Samuel Hearne’s Arctic explorations appear throughout Canada and the far north.
Newly charted islands are shown across the Pacific, including Hawaii and New Caledonia, while a vestige of the mythical L. Parima remains visible in Guiana. In the southern hemisphere, Australia bears both the labels New Holland and Terra Australis, with new detail along its eastern coast—notably Port Jackson, the first European settlement on the Australian mainland and the site of modern Sydney.
Condition
Printed on four sheets, with the upper and lower pairs of sheets joined, as issued. Crisp impressions with contemporary outline color in the map with later color in the decorative surround, on sturdy sheets.
Background on Creator
Samuel Dunn (1723–1794) was a teacher of mathematics and navigation who also published maps, charts, and other practical works. Although little is known about his early education, he was running his own school by age nineteen and teaching writing, accounting, navigation, and mathematics in Devon; in 1751 he moved to London, where he taught at several schools and tutored privately. By the 1760s, he had established a reputation as a respected astronomer and had published a range of textbooks on mathematics, navigation, and astronomy.
Following the publication of the Nautical Almanac, Dunn served as a certifier of ships’ masters under the new system for the Board of Longitude, and he performed similar work for the East India Company while also preparing charts of the East Indies. In 1776 he published A New Variation Atlas, followed in 1777 by A New Epitome of Practical Navigation, or, Guide to the Indian Seas. By 1780, he was editor of the New Directory for the East Indies, which included his own charts, and in 1786 he issued the influential Theory and Practice of Longitude at Sea. He also designed several navigational instruments. Dunn died at his home on Fleet Street in January 1794, and his books and maps were later sold at Sotheby’s in a large auction of more than 1,000 lots, many of which were acquired by Alexander Dalrymple, the hydrographer of the East India Company and soon-to-be first head of the Hydrography Office.