|
||
|
|
|
|
Detailed map of the region from India to Australia and Japan, illustrating the voyage of James Lancaster in the region.
James Lancaster was prominent trader and privateer. In April 1591, he left Plymouth on his first voyage to the East Indies, the earliest English sea voyage to successfully undertake such a voyage. He reached Table Bay in August 1591 and Zanzibar in February 1592, before rounding Cape Comorin in May 1592 and ultimately reaching the Malay Peninsula in June 1592. The return voyage proved quite disastrous and only 25 men survived the entire voyage.
Lancaster's voyage is credited (along with Ralph Fitch's overland expedition) as being the impetus for the creation of the East India Company. In 1600, Lancaster was given command of the East India Company's first fleet and became Queen Elizabeth's special envoy to the Eastern Kingdoms. His second voyage to the region was considerably mor successful and Lancaster would go on to become one of the chief directors of the East India Company and the sponsor of a number of voyages to India and in search of the Northwest Passage.
The map offered here was used by Vander Aa to illustrate a Dutch Translation of Lancaster's Voyage to the region. In all, Vander Aa issued 130 translations of important 15th, 16th and 17th Century Travel Narratives to the America, Africa and Asia, which were issued in 28 volumes in the early part of the 18th Century. Many of the narratives are either unobtainable or extremely rare in their original formats. Striking full color example of this beautifully engraved map.
Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733) was a Dutch mapmaker and publisher who printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated books, but is best known for his voluminous output of maps and atlases. Van der Aa was born to a German stonecutter from Holstein. Interestingly, all three van der Aa sons came to be involved in the printing business. Hildebrand was a copper engraver and Boudewyn was a printer.
