A new map of the East Indies, taken from Mr. de Fer‘s map of Asia, shewing their cheif divisions, cities, towns, ports, rivers, mountains & c. Dedicated to His Highness William Duke of Glocester

Circa 1700

Later hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

Without mount: 14.2 x 19 in (36.2 x 48.5 cm)
With mount: 20.5 x 25.5 in (52.2 x 65 cm)

Edward Wells prepared this map, Sutton Nicholls etched it, and T Bonwicke published it for either the 1700 (first) or 1701 (second) edition of Wells' atlas A New Sett of Maps both of Ancient and Present Geography, identified by the addition of the numeral '30' to the cartouche beneath the title.

This map, which is centered on the Malay Peninsula, includes all of South and Southeast Asia, including the countries of modern-day India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, and the Philippines, and spans the region from Persia to Timor Island. It depicts the region in detail, providing topographical and political details with exquisitely depicted mountains in profile, and is based on Nicholas De Fer's double-page map of Asia.

The island of Singapore is illustrated but not labeled. It identifies Lombok (Lombock) and Bali (Baly) in addition to Batavia. A considerable portion of the Lesser and Great Sunda Islands, which remained mostly undiscovered until the 19th century, are hypothetically plotted. Taiwan is distorted, and India is shown as being very narrow. The scale of the Maldives, Laccadives, Chagos Archipelago, and other islands is wildly inflated, which is understandable given their significance to European explorers. Similarly, Parta Island (Pratas), an island and its surrounding shoals that are under Taiwanese administration, is remarkably vast in this area. Parallel to the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea is an odd stretch of shallow water and dangers that stretches north to the Paracel Islands and possibly as far as the westernmost Spratly Islands or the island of Dao Phu Qui.

A sizable title cartouche with Prince William's coat of arms, the Duke of Gloucester, is added toward the bottom-left of the map. In the title surround, political divisions, pictorial relief, a compass rose with explanations, and Prime Meridians of Ferro and London. Wells taught geography and mathematics at Oxford University to Prince William while he was a student there.

Edward Wells (1667 - 1727)
English mathematician, geographer, and classical scholar Edward Wells was educated at Christ Church College, Oxford. After receiving training for the ministry, Wells soon realized himself unsuited to religious life and applied for a job as an academic at Oxford, where he went on to write a number of well-regarded books on a broad range of scientific and mathematical subjects. He was selected to be Queen Anne's tutor for her sickly baby son, Prince William. Given that Wells dedicated almost all of the maps in his most significant atlas, A New Set of Maps both of Ancient and Present Geography, to the two, they must have been very close. Regretfully, the young prince passed away in July 1700, not long before the atlas was released.

Nicholas de Fer (1646 - 1720)
The son of cartographer Antoine de Fer, Nicholas de Fer was a French publisher and cartographer. Under the tutelage of Parisian engraver Louis Spirinx, he created his maiden map at the age of 23, depicting the Canal du Midi. He assumed control of the family engraving company after his father passed away in June 1673 and set up shop as an engraver, geographer, and map publisher on Quai de L'Horloge in Paris. De Fer produced more than 600 maps and atlases in his illustrious career. Despite having many geographical mistakes, De Fer's work attracted a sizable fan base because to its strong decorative appeal. De Fer's rise to prominence in the late 17th century culminated in his appointment as Geographe de le Dauphin, a role that provided him with unrivaled access to the most recent cartographic data. Guillaume De L'Isle, Premier Geograph de Roi, was a more scholarly geographer who held this office concurrently. Despite very different cartographic approaches, De L'Isle and De Fer seem to have stepped carefully around one another and were rarely publicly at odds. After Nicolas passed away in 1720 due to old age, his two sons-in-law, Guillaume Danet (who had married his daughter Marguerite-Geneviève De Fer) and Jacques-François Bénard (Besnard) Danet (wife of Marie-Anne De Fer), and their heirs succeeded him. These individuals carried on publishing under the De Fer imprint until approximately 1760. Remarkably, the engraver Remi Rircher, who wed De Fer's third daughter, also inherited a portion of the De Fer heritage. However, Richer showed little interest in the company and sold his portion to the Danet brothers in 1721.

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NON-EXPORTABLE

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