Antique Map of The World on Mercator's Projection. Findlay & Kelly c1837

by Findlay, Alexander

The World on Mercator's Projection - showing east coast of Australia as charted by James Cook in 1770, but not showing the south coast later charted by Matthew Flinders during his 1798-1799 circumnavigation of Australia.

Original fine steel-engraved map by geographer and hydrographer, mapmaker Alexander Findlay (1812-1870), for Barclay’s New & Universal English Dictionary, published in London c1837 by Thomas Kelly of Paternoster Row. This decorative map has been hand-coloured at a later date, but it has been done well and certainly adds to the map's appeal.

The most famous cartographer after Ptolemy, Flemish mapmaker Gerard Mercator, in 1569, produced the first map of the world in cylindrical form with mathematically increasing latitudes, so that the world could be shown (projected) as a flat image of the world. This became known as the Mercator Projection, and today is the image of the world that most people recognize best.

Engraved map measures 24 x 40 cm (approximately 9.5 x 15.75 inches) to its border. Page size is 26.5 x 43.5cm (10.5 x 19.25 inches). It has two barely visible vertical folds, as issued for a smaller publication. There is also slilght damage to the edges of the paper - none of which would show when it is framed.