DESCRIPTION: Antique engraved nautical chart of South America below the Equator from the rare first American edition of Malham's Naval Gazetteer, published by Spotswood and Nancrede in Boston in 1797. Early U.S. colonial nautical chart engravings are scarce. This small chart incorrectly shows Tierra del Fuego as a solid land mass rather than as an archipelago. The area we today know as Argentina is labeled 'Patagonia', and the size of the Plate River "Rio de la Plata" is vastly overestimated with its westward extent shown reaching across half the width of the continent. Key cites noted include: Quito, Lima, Buenos Aires, and Sao Paulo.
At extreme upper left of chart the Galapagos Islands are shown, where the largest of the archipelago, Isabella, is designated as 'Albemarle Island' as it was known to the British of that period.
This chart comes from an early nautical gazetteer or geographical dictionary produced first in England and after 1796 in the United States by John Malham. Rev. John Malham was a prolific Yorkshire-born author who produced other diverse works that include "Navigation Made Easy and Familiar", "Twenty-Two Sermons on Doctrinal and Practical Subjects" and "The Scarcity of Wheat considered". Malham died near London in 1807. (Gentleman's Magazine, Vol 102, 1807, p. 568).
Colophon at end of Volume 1 states that the work is "From the prefs of Samuel Etheridge, No. 9 Newbury Street, Boston, 1797").
PUBLICATION DATE: 1797
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: South America
BODY OF WATER: Pacific and Atlantic Oceans
CONDITION: Good.
On chain-laid paper. Clean with a short left margin (3/8 ") Two vertical folds, as issued.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: Rollinson
SIZE: 9
" x
7 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 5
PRICE: $195
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