"East Indies", Jefferys, Thomas

Thomas Jefferys was one of the most important English map publishers of the 18th century. His work included prints and maps of locations around the world, but his most notable maps are of North America and the West Indies. He began his career in the map trade in the early 1730s, working as an engraver for a variety of London publishers, and eventually setting up his own shop. In 1746, he was appointed Geographer to the Prince of Wales, and in 1760 he became Geographer to the King. These titles granted access to manuscripts and cartographic information held by the government. In the early 1760s he embarked on an ambitious project to produce a series of English county maps based on new surveys, but ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy in 1766. He then partnered with London publisher Robert Sayer, who reissued many of Jefferys plates and continued to issue new editions after Jefferys' death in 1771. Jefferys' American Atlas and the accompanying West-India Atlas, published post posthumously, are considered his most important cartographic works.

This is a nice chart of the East Indies showing the islands of Java, Sumatra, Celebes, Borneo as well as the lesser islands of the archipelago. The map extends further than most purporting to show the East Indies, as it includes the Maldives, Ceylon and India up to Tibet, Siam, Cambodia, much of China, Formosa, and the Philippines in their entirety. Most of New Guinea is shown in the east while the islands of Timor and Flores are at the bottom of the map, excluding any part of Australia. At the extreme top edge are Japan and Corea. The title is contained in a nice cartouche with includes a distance scale.

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Condition: B+

Issued folding with light printer's ink residue, one tiny piece of archival tape on recto along the western edge of India, and a few tiny edge tears confined to the blank margins.