Splendid two sheet map of the world on Mercator’s Projection, showing an unusually large number of marine voyages of exploration.

This map bears some resemblance to John Purdy’s large wall map of the world on Mercator’s Projection. That map was first issued in 1810 although there were further issues in 1821 and 1823, showing an updated revisions including voyages by Parry searching for the Northwest Passage.

This map by Lizars is a reduced version of that map but with some differences, particularly in the portrayal of Japan and the east coast of Asia. Lizars chooses to use the geographical model of Japan introduced by Engelbert Kaempfer in 1727 as opposed to Purdy, who uses the D’Anville model published in 1737. There is also no Sakhalin Island on this map, but which is present on the Purdy.

As mentioned above, this map, emulating the Purdy, shows an unusually large number of routes of voyages of discovery, going as far back as Columbus as well as including Cook, Parry in the northern Canadian region, Commodore Byron, grandfather to the poet, Captain Furneaux and Captain Phipps, later Lord Mulgrave who led an expedition to Spitzbergen or Svalbard in the far north. One of the ships under his command included a young midshipman, Horatio Nelson, in its crew.

This beautiful map is an outstanding document showing the latest discoveries. The most recent voyages present on the map were those of Parry in 1821.

Original colour. [WLD4871]