One of the Rare Antique Maps Published Exclusively by a Woman

"Africae Nova Descriptio ", Seile, Anae

This map of Africa is based on Henry Seile's map of 1652 (Anae's husband). For unknown reasons, after Henry's death his plates passed to his business partner, Philip Chetwind. Lacking the original plates, Anae enlisted Robert Vaughan to engrave this new plate for her own publication of Heylin's Cosmography. Therefore, this is one of the few maps published exclusively by a woman, with her own imprint. Cartographically, the map is a close copy of John Speed's map of the continent from 1626, including many of the decorative elements. The Nile is shown with its origin in the vicinity of the Congo and conforms to the Ptolemaic concept of rivers from Lake Zaire and Lake Zaflan joining to form the mighty river. The course of the Niger River is incorrectly shown and there are many fictitious lakes in Central Africa. Robert Vaughan's signature appears at lower right.

References: Betz #100; cf. Norwich #36.

Condition: B+

A dark impression on a clean sheet with two tiny wormholes along the centerfold that are only visible when held to light. There are narrow margins on all sides, which is very common for this map.