1834

ORIGINAL   ANTIQUE   ENGRAVED   HAND   COLORED   MAP

WESTERN AFRICA

Title:  Antique Map of  WESTERN AFRICA.  Includes a second separate sheet with a list of the towns and cities of  Western Africa.  As small as this map is, it is still a marvelous closeup of many places that no longer exist.  And, the American religious experiment of establishing the new country of Liberia as a settlement for freed American slaves to go to seek their original African heritage, which began in 1822, doesn't even show on this map!  So many countries that exist today are completely missing from this map!  

Publisher:  Carey, Lea, & Blanchard:  Philadelphia.

Date Published:  1834

Size:  The map printed area measures approximately 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches (9 by 14 cm).   The actual page size measures approximately 4 1/4 by 6 3/4 inches (11 by 17 cm).  

Condition:  The map is in Very Good to Fine, clean condition with the original hand coloring showing brightly.  There is some light uniform age toning  to the paper.  The photos show the actual map that you will receive.  The picture of the framed map shows how you could easily mat and frame this map.  The map in the frame is from a different listing.  There is no mat or frame included in this sale, only the original, antique 1834 map and data sheet, and, a copy of the title page of the book from which this map was taken.  

Topic:  Western Africa.

Additional Comments:  This also comes with a copy of the title page of the volume from which this map comes.  Please note that the map and the list of towns are originals, not copies.

You will receive the authentic, engraved, antique map pictured here.  This map is over 185 year old.  The map is hand colored, as issued.  The map is from The Geographical Annual which was published in Philadelphia by Carey, Lea & Blanchard in 1834. 

The map is not mounted, matted or framed.  It is being sold as a single loose map with the second sheet showing listed data.  This map is an easy and economical item to frame and display.  

This map is a great symbol of Western African development.  In this early 19th century view we can see that this is probably a statement that there was more that we didn't know about African than we did know!

When this map was printed and sold, Andrew Jackson was the President of the United States.  Slavery ruled this antebellum era.  Texas was two years away from fighting the Alamo and winning independence.  Legendary historical names of American history were alive and busy with their activities; names like Davy Crocket, Martin Van Buren, John Quincy Adams, John C Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Jim Bridger.  Westward expansion was just getting under way and the railroads were in their early stages of development.  

Around the world, slavery was made illegal in the British Empire in 1834.  Charles Darwin was conducting his scientific research.  1835 saw the first railroad arrive in continental Europe, in Belgium.  In 1837, Victoria became the Queen of Great Britain at the age of 18.  Africa was still mostly the unexplored continent.  Asia was ruled by the Qing Dynasty, and the seeds of the Opium Wars were being laid.  New Holland was getting to become known as Australia although many atlases would be slow to change names.  In the Middle East, Egypt and Turkey were fighting over control of the Levant.  Even though Simon Bolivar had died in 1830, his heritage helped many colonies in South America find their independence.  

A little added information about the publisher shows that the Carey family was well known as cartographers.  The family consisted of the father, Mathew Carey (1760-1839) and his son, Henry, and son-in-law, Issac Lea, and they were also well known as printers and publishers.  Matthew Carey was born in Dublin, where at the age of 17 he published pamphlets on the Severity of the Irish Penal Code and another criticizing the English Parliament.  Due his publications he was sought for prosecution by the House of Commons.  He fled to Paris where he met Benjamin Franklin.  Franklin employed him for a year in his printing house in 1781.    He returned to Ireland for a period and published a couple of Irish Nationalist newspapers.  Again he was in trouble with the English Crown.  In 1784 he found it necessary to flee Ireland by ship, dressed as a woman.  He fled to the United States where he opened up his own successful printing company.  This map is from the American edition of The Geographical Annual which was originally published in London under the aegis of King William IV and the maps were all stated to be by the cartographer Thomas Starling.   Very conveniently, Carey left out of the American edition all acknowledgments of the King and Thomas Starling.  The American copyright law passed by Congress in 1790 excluded the protection of international works by non citizens.  This resulted in a great number of American books using material from other countries.