A very early edition of this great map of the Russian Empire (and one we have not seen before). The map is printed on two sheets (as issued), joined and was based on the cartography of D'Anville. There is extensive detail throughout including information on the region involved in the conflict between the Turks and the Russians north of the Black Sea. The Asiatic part of the map features a superb conjectural Alaskan Peninsula and some completely spurious islands in the north Pacific. These include Company's Land and Kia-ytho of Chinese and Japanese Probably the same with the Land of Juan de Gama. Laurie and Whittle succeeded Sayer in 1794 and reissued many of his maps including this one, which was updated with information from the Imperial Academy at St. Petersburg and from Capt. Cook's exploration of Kamchatka. See the following lot for a comparison of these interesting maps.

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Condition: B

Original outline color. Lightly toned, darker in margins where there are some tears, repairs and stains. A few of the repaired tears at sides extend into the edge of the map. The map is creased along the folds.