Antique Map of Africa with the Unexplored Interior and a Population Table, 1858

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An original antique map of africa, a steel engraving colored by hand in outline, with a pale blue wash along … Read more An original antique map of africa, a steel engraving colored by hand in outline, with a pale blue wash along the coasts. The title reads "africa". The map shows the whole continent with spain, sicily, syria and arabia to the north and east, the azores, canaries and cape verde islands in the atlantic, and madagascar, mauritius and the seychelles in the indian ocean. The center of the continent is lettered "unexplored" across a largely blank area. The south shows the cape colony, natal, the orange free state and the trans vaal rep. Below the title is the line "published under the superintendence of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge." at lower left is a table headed "the population of", beginning "marocco, is supposed to be" 6,000,000 and continuing with algier, tunis, tripoli, egypt, abyssinia and zanguebar. A scale in the right margin reads "english miles 68¾ = 1 degree". The plate number 22 is engraved above the upper right corner, and the imprint "london. Edward stanford. 6. Charing cross." runs below the lower border. Explorers' tracks and names are marked with dates, among them caillié 1828, denham 1824, lander 1824, barth 1850 and 1855, and anderson 1854; the map also marks mt. Kilimanjaro, l. Taganyika or tagonyenka, ngami l. And the "supposed source of r. Zaire". The plate comes from the harrow atlas of modern geography, published by edward stanford in london in 1858 and sold at harrow by crossley and clarke, booksellers to harrow school. Its maps were selected from the series of the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge, founded in london in 1826, which issued its maps in parts from 1829 and was wound up in 1848; stanford later issued them under his own imprint. The sheet records the state of european knowledge of the continent at the time: the coasts and the north are closely named, while the lakes of the east are only sketched and much of the center is left unexplored. Condition: light handling wear to the bottom left corner; minor nicks along the bottom and left edges, including a small notch at the bottom edge at the center fold. A center fold, as issued. Light, uneven toning, slightly darker toward the edges. A few small foxing spots in the margin. This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less