Large framed Antique World map-Double Hemisphere-Samuel Dunn-1772

Description

Large double-hemisphere world map. Its complex design includes nine large inset diagrams, charts and illustrations, along with smaller illustrations and text panels filling every available space. The diagrams include the constellations of the Northern and Southern hemispheres, the solar system, a map of the moon “according to Father Riccioli,” geographic terms, and explanations of the tides and seasons. Continents are hand-outlined in green, red or yellow. This is the original edition of this popular map and was published as ‘Scientia Terrarum …’ and over the following decades the hemisphere map portions underwent many revisions and updates to reflect new geographic information arising from the expeditions of Captain Cook and others. Tracks of Cook’s and various other explorers’ voyages are shown on the map.  This particular example was published by Robert Sayer.

The Midwest of the present-day United States, then claimed by the French, is called Louisiana; the southwestern part of North America is labeled New Mexico and Apaches. Other tribal names also appear elsewhere on the map, such as Cherokee in the southeast and Sioux in the north. The Hawaiian Islands are called Sandwich Islands, and the location where Cook was killed is noted. Australia is called “New Holland or Terra Australis.” Africa has areas labeled Negroland, Guinea, Caffreria, and Hotentots. The Arctic is labeled “Northern Icy Ocean” and shows the northeastern portion of Greenland as “Old Greenland found again the preceding Century.” Antarctica, then unexplored, is not depicted, though “Southern Icy Ocean,” “Field Ice” and “Isles of Ice” are indicated in the general area. The Antipodes of London are labeled.

Samuel Dunn was a British mathematician, cartographer, and amateur astronomer. Baptized in 1723, by age 19 he was teaching at his own academy. In 1757 he produced what he called “universal planispheres,” large stereographic maps. In 1774, he published New Atlas of the Mundane System, consisting of 62 copperplate engravings. Around the same time, he was appointed mathematical examiner of job candidates for the East India Company. He published several works on astronomy, geography, and navigation under the company’s auspices.

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