One of the Rare Antique Maps Published Exclusively by a Woman

"Asiae Descriptio Nova ", Seile, Anae

This map of Asia and the East Indies 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 John Goddard 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. The outline of the continent follows the Mercator-Hondius model with a great expanse of water between a truncated Asia and North America, and a very elongated Korean peninsula. Many place names graphically depicting the extent of European knowledge throughout Asia and particularly in the Philippines and East Indies. In the interior of China, the Great Wall is graphically depicted, along with an elephant and the fictitious Chiamay Lacus. The coastline of Java that is shown suggests that it is quite a bit larger than it is, and New Guinea and the Moluccas are shown as a confused group of islands. The map is adorned with two sailing ships and a decorative cartouche.

References: Yeo #55.

Condition: B

Issued folding on watermarked paper and trimmed to the neatline all around as is usually seen on this map. There are a pair of worm tracks along the left fold, a few tiny fold separations, and some creasing at bottom.