The World as Known to the Ancients, Antique Map on Two Sheets, 1845
US$658
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1845
Mapmaker / artist
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, London; engraved by John and Charles Walker
Publisher
Charles Knight and Company, 22 Ludgate Street, London
Technique
Steel Engraving
Coloring
Original hand color
Sheet size
43.5 × 35 cm (17.1 × 13.8 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14487-2-4
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Two sheets, both age toned. Foxing in the margins of all of them. Handling wear to the corners of all of them.
About this sheet
This is an original antique map of the world as it was known to the ancients, complete on the two sheets on which the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge printed it in 1845, offered together as one set. The western sheet carries Europe, the whole Mediterranean basin, north Africa and as much of the continent beyond the Sahara as classical geography could reach, with Oceanus Atlanticus and Mare Internum lettered across the seas and Gaetulia, Libya Interior, Nigritae and Aethiopia Interior across the land. The eastern sheet takes up at the right hand edge of the first and runs from Arabia and the Persian Gulf across Scythia Intra Imaum and Scythia Extra Imaum to Serica, India Intra Gangem and India Extra Gangem, with the vast blank of Terra Incognita lettered across the whole northern half and Taprobane set off the Indian coast. Both sheets are drawn by the Reverend Philip Smith and engraved by John and Charles Walker, both carry hand applied outline color along the coasts and provincial boundaries, and both are set with engraved notes discussing the reliability of ancient geography, Herodotus on the extent of the Indian Ocean and the courses of the Nile and the Niger.
The sheets come from Maps of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, in the new edition corrected to the present time that Charles Knight and Company published at 22 Ludgate Street, London, in 1845, whose first volume covers Europe. The Society was founded in 1826 by Henry Brougham and his circle to publish useful knowledge at a low price. Its maps were issued in parts from 1829, first by Baldwin and Cradock, from 1842 by Chapman and Hall and then by Charles Knight, and the series grew to about two hundred maps. Most of them were engraved on steel by John and Charles Walker, and the outline color was applied by hand.
The sheets of this set belong to one map and are sold together.
Two sheets, both age toned. Foxing in the margins of all of them. Handling wear to the corners of all of them.
The set is two original sheets sold together, never split. These are original antique maps, not modern reproductions. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
