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Description

Rare sea chart of the Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, first published in London by Laurie & Whittle in 1794 and revised periodically for the next decade.

Offered here is the second state of the map wich includes an extended title, noting the addition of the discoveries of the "Royal Admiral" 1792-1793 and the "Walpole" in 1794. The voyage of the "Walpole" under the command of Thomas Butler was important for adding to the knowledge of the "Great Eastern Route" to China.

The present example is a fascinating early edition of this map, pre-dating the discovery of Bass Strait and determination that Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) was in fact an island, a depiction which is first illustrated on the 1800 edition of the chart: /gallery/detail/32714

Unlike the later edition of 1800, this edition includes a lengthy coastline noted as " This Coast is entirely unknown", ending Tasmania shown as part of the mainland. Bass Strait (named after George Bass) would be first to be hypothesized in 1797 and discovered by Bass and Matthew Flinders in the Norfolk, in 1798-99.

The existence of the strait had been suggested in 1797 by the master of the Sydney Cove when he reached Sydney, after deliberately grounding his foundering ship and being stranded on Preservation Island (at the eastern end of the strait). He reported that the strong south westerly swell and the tides and currents suggested that the island was in a channel linking the Pacific and southern Indian Ocean. Governor Hunter thus wrote to Joseph Banks in August, 1797 that it seemed certain a strait existed. The present chart was issued in January 1797, only months before the first conjecture that Tasmania was in fact an island.

In the north of Australia, the present map shows a very wide depiction of the Gulf of Carpenteria, which was significantly revised and made much narrower on the 1800 chart. To the west of the Gulf, beginning with Arnheim's Land, the coastline is shown very definitively including Van Diemen's Bay. By 1800, this coastline is almost completely gone and Van Diemen's Bay, while still shown, moved to the northwest and is not attached to a bay.

Moving to the southwest corner of Australia there are many other variations. Lion's Land is shown, along with South Cape, with an unexplored area to the east before reaching P. Nuyts Land. By 1800, in this same region K George III Land is shown, with Cape Chatham, K. Geo III Sound and 4 islands and the name Lion's Land is revised to Leeuwin's Land.

The other area of major revisions on this map is in the area of Papua and New Guinea. The coastlines are radically revised between this edition and the 1800 edition. Notably, the Isles de la Louisade and New Britain, two large islands to the west of New Guinea, disappears almost completely in the later 1800 edition of the map. De Bougainville discovered the Louisiade Archipelago in 1768, although it is probably Torres who was the first to sight the archipelago in 1606. This chart almost certainly reflects the observations made by Admiral Bruni d'Entrecasteaux in 1793, during his search for La Perouse.

The map title notes that it includes

the tracks of the English, Spanish, French and Dutch navigators and chiefly the track of the Walpole, Eastindiaman, Captn. Thos. Butler, 1794 from the Cape of Good Hope to Van Diemen's Land and from thence to China, and the track of the Royal Admiral Captn. Henr. Bond in 1792 and 93, from the Cape to Port Jackson and China.

Includes a fantastic early treatment of Australia (referred to as New Holland) and New Zealand, reflecting the discoveries in the last decades of the 18th Century.

The chart was first prepared under a different title by Robert Sayer in 1787 and re-issued in 1790. The chart was re-issued by Laurie & Whittle, May 1794, with same title as the first state ( ANew Chart of the Indian and Pacific Oceans Between the Cape of Good Hope), before changing the title to " Laurie & Whittle's New Chart ... " in 1797.

The 1794 state of the map includes the following explorations:

  • Torres (1606)
  • Dampier (1688 Cygnet)
  • Dampier (1699-1700 Roebuck)
  • Hay (1739-Eagle)
  • Bouvet (1739 Mary / la Marie)
  • Carteret (1767 - Swallow)
  • Bougainville (1768 - La Boudeuse)
  • de Surville (1769 St. John Baptist)
  • St. Allouarn (1772)
  • Crozet (1772)
  • Kerguelen (1772)
  • Marion du Fresne (1772)
  • Cook and Furneaux (1773 - Adventure)
  • John Shortland (1778 - Alexander)
  • Scarborough (1788)
  • Larkins (1788 - Warren Hastings)

The 1797 state adds the following voyages

  • Royal Admiral (1792-93)
  • Walpole (1794)

The 1800 state adds significant additional information and seems to have been re-issued, without further changes for several more years, including a state dated 1803.

Condition Description
2-sheet map, joined as issued. Several fold splits and minor tears, archivally repaired on verso. Cleaned, but still some evidence of minor soiling.
Laurie & Whittle Biography

Robert Laurie (ca. 1755-1836) and James Whittle (1757-1818) formed their Fleet Street, London-based firm upon the 1794 death of their employer Robert Sayer, himself one of the dominant print and mapmakers of the last half of the 18th century.

Laurie & Whittle started managing Sayer's business as early as 1787. They took over all managerial duties when Sayer's health flagged in 1792, and they changed the imprint in 1794 upon his death. Sayer left the two a 21-year lease on the shop (at £100 a year) and on Sayer's Bolt Court premises, as well as an option to acquire stock and equipment at a preferential price of £5,000 payable over three years.

Robert Laurie retired from the firm in 1812, and his role was assumed by his son, Richard Holmes Laurie (1777-1858). The younger Laurie worked with James Whittle until the latter died in 1818. After R. H. Laurie died in 1858, Alexander George Findlay, FRGS (1812-1875) purchased the firm from his daughters. The firm continues today under another name, specializing in yachting charts.

Laurie & Whittle were prolific print and map publishers, and throughout their careers, they produced numerous very important and rare works. They carried on Robert Sayer's atlas business and were responsible for editions of The Complete East-India Pilot and The American Atlas.