The East Indies, with the roads

1768

Original hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

Rare two sheet unmounted map of India
North India: 21 x 55.25 in (53.4 x 140.6 cm)
South India: 23.25 x 55.75 in (59 x 141.4 cm)
Will form a huge map of 42.25 x 55.75 in (107.3 x 141.6 cm) approximately, when both the sheets are joined together

One of the land mark maps of the 18th century. This huge wall size map of Indian Sub-continent is a gold mine of information be it geographical, historical, cultural, it shows roads, caravan routes, temples, cities, treaty lines, mountain ranges, lakes, swamps, rivers etc. This map contains a wealth of information for historians interested in political changes in India throughout the 18th century. Delhi (or Shah Jehan Abad), Agra, Bombay, Goa, Calcutta, Pondicherry, and a plethora of other large and little cities are all identified.

Far to the North there are numerous hypothetical rivers in this area, as well as a major lake called Chilea or Ganga. This is most likely an incorrect map of Chilka Lake (Chilika Lake). Chilka Lake is the world's second biggest saltwater lagoon, yet it was definitely overlooked by early mapmakers working on the Orissa coast.

Jeffery's charts the 'supposed' sites of the fabled Lake of Chiamay in Assam. Early cartographers hypothesized that such a lake must exist as the source of four major Southeast Asian river systems, including the Irrawaddy, Dharla, Chao Phraya, and Brahmaputra. This lake first appeared on maps of the region in the 16th century and remained so until the late 18th century. Its roots are uncertain, however it may have been derived from a lost 16th century geography created by the Portuguese scholar Jao de Barros. It was also highly discussed in Sven Hedin's notebooks, who thought it was tied with Indian legend that a sacred lake joined multiple holy river systems. There are even reports of the King of Siam leading an expedition. There is even evidence that in the 16th century, the King of Siam led an invasionary force to seize possession of the lake. Nonetheless, the Lake Chimmay idea was eventually debunked, and it vanished from maps by the 1780s.

Jeffery's identifies the Kingdom of Arakan, which existed in the 16th and 17th centuries, in the extreme east of the map. Mrauk-U, also known as Arakan, was once praised by Portuguese traders as one of the most beautiful spots on the planet, but it is now a majestic but deserted ruin.

Overall, a fantastic map with a lot to offer that would be a welcome addition to any serious collection concentrating on the subcontinent. Jeffery's created this map, which was first published by Sayer and Bennet. This is the second version, which was published in Kitchin's 1794 General Atlas by Laurie & Whittle.

Thomas Jefferys (c. 1719 - 1771), "Geographer to King George III", was an English cartographer who was the leading map supplier of his day. He engraved and printed maps for government and other official bodies and produced a wide range of commercial maps and atlases, especially of North America. As "Geographer to the Prince of Wales", he produced A Plan of all the Houses, destroyed & damaged by the Great Fire, which begun in Exchange Alley Cornhill, on Friday March 25, 1748. He produced The Small English Atlas with Thomas Kitchin, and he engraved plans of towns in the English Midlands.

This work will be shipped unframed. The sheets are unmounted and in 2 un-joined parts as issued. It needs to be joined together to make complete map of India of 42.25 x 55.75 in (107.3 x 141.6 cm) approximately, when both the sheets are joined together.

NON-EXPORTABLE