ASIA. Allard. c1700.
Exactissima Asiae Delineatio, in Praecipuas Regiones ... per Carolum Allard, Amstelo-Batavum .... Ph. Tiedeman delin. G. v. Gouwen sculp. Imprint: Extracta ex Authenticis Tabulis D. Nicolai Witsen, Cos. Amst: ... 19.7"h x 23.1"w. Original color. Excellent condition. Map by Nicolaas Witsen (1641-1717) who was a cartographer and the mayor of Amsterdam.

Published by Carel Allard (1648-1709) in Amsterdam, c1700. Drawn by Philip Tideman. Engraved by Gilliam van Gouwen. Reference Koeman I, p.33 Map Al 10.

A beautiful map of Asia. Although a lot was known about Asia by 1700, the region northwest of Japan remained largely unexplored; such features as the Kamchatka Peninsula are still not evident. In the sea above the island of Honshu is a partially defined area labeled "Yedso", the name for Hokkaido, the northernmost Japanese island. On some early charts, Yedso meant Japan.

ASIA. Morden. 1705.
Asia. 14"h x 15"w. Small stain in Mediterranean Sea near Egypt; slight centerfold stain; very good. Engraved by Robert Morden.

Published in John Harris, Navigantium ... or, a Compleat Collection of Voyages and Travels, London. 1705. See Mead Cain’s article about Robert Morden's maps of the continents in Issue 57 of The Map Collector.

In the North, one coastline of "Nova Zembla" is sketched out; later it was discovered that Novaya Zemlya consists of two large islands. The interior of Asia (Tartary on this map) is nearly void of details. The Great Wall of China separates the known from the unknown. The east coast of Asia is sketched in lightly and filled with conjecture. It was later in the century before Bering and Cook provided details that added the Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska to the charts. In the South, the northern coastline of New Holland is still indefinite.

ASIA. d’Anville/Bolton. 1755/1766.
First Part of Asia being Turky, Arabia, Persia, most of India and Tartary. Performed by the Sr D'Anville under the Patronage of the Duke of Orleans. Revised and Improved by Mr Bolton. MDCCLV. Four sheets, 29"h x 30"w if assembled. Tear through neat line into map scales of lower left sheet. Lower right sheet missing a half-inch piece of neat line. Fold lines. Map dated 1755. Solomon Bolton updated the original maps by d’Anville. Engraved by Richard William Seale (1732-1785) and J. Smith.

Published in Malachy Postlethwayt, The Universal Dictionary of Trade and Commerce ... 3rd ed., (London, 1766).

Numerous notes explain the significance of the sites, such as: "The Island of Ceilon is undoubtedly the Taprobana of Ptolemy, tho some Authors, for want of due Examination, have thought otherwise".

PALESTINE. Gray. 1877.
Palestine. 15"h x 12"w. Map very good. Original wash color.

Published in The National Atlas Containing Elaborate Topographical Maps of the United States . . . (Philadelphia, O. W. Gray & Son, 1877). Map of Australia verso.

Shows Palestine divided into four major regions, each of which is sudivided into two or more areas. Inset of the Arabian Peninsula.

ASIA MINOR. Muenster. 1540-1552.
Tabula Asiae I. 10"h x 13"w. Wood cut. Latin text. Page 17 verso.

Published in Sebastian Münster, Geographia Vniversalis.... Basle: Heinrich Petri, 1540-1552. Henri Petri (1508-1579) was Muenster's son-in-law and a printer and publisher of maps in Basle.

This is a Ptolemaic-style map of Turkey with the Black Sea (Pontus Euxinus) at the top. The Bosporus Strait and Constantinople (or Istanbul) are at the left. Part of Crete appears at the lower left. Part of Syria is at the lower right. The Euphrates River flows south along the east (right) side of the map. Mountains and cities are shown in profile.

BLACK SEA. Gray. 1877.
Gray’s New Map of the Countries Surrounding the Black Sea Comprising European Turkey Southern Russia Asia Minor Etc. Copyright, 1877, By O. W. Gray & Son. 15"h x 26 1/2"w. Inset:The Bosphorus and Vicinity. Margins lightly soiled. Map excellent. Original wash color.

Published in The National Atlas Containing Elaborate Topographical Maps of the United States . . . (Philadelphia, O. W. Gray & Son, 1877).

Extends east from the Adriatic Sea to the Caspian Sea. Extends south from Hungary to Syria. Mountains are shown by hachures. Boundaries of the Ottoman and the Russian Empires are shown in red and green, respectively.

CHINA. Tanner. 1818.
China divided into its Great Provinces According to the best Authorities. B. Tanner Sc. N. York. Page number: 52 in upper right margin. 13”h x 14”w. Large margins. Small stain left margin into neat line. Image in very good condition. Original outline color. Engraved by Benjamin Tanner (1775-1848).

Published in Carey’s General Atlas (Philadelphia, M. Carey, 1814 or 1818).

Shows the area defined as China during that period, now just the southeast portion of China. Provinces are identified and outlined in color. Tibet is at the left and “Chinese Tartary” is at the top. A distorted “Kingdom of Korea” is shown. Shows the “Great Wall”. An “Explanation” gives translations of a few key words.

JAPAN. Mercator-Hondius. 1606/1613.
Iaponia. 13"h x 18"w. Appears to have original color. Margins are rough but defects would be covered when map is matted and framed; some filled holes in margins approx. one-inch beyond neat lines. Map image is in excellent condition. This map first appeared in 1606.

This version appeared on p. 350 in the 1613 Latin edition of Gerardi Mercatoris Atlas Sive Cosmographae ... published by Jodocus Hondius, Amsterdam (Koeman Me 22). Illustrated in Gohm p. 65, Humphreys p. 91 (color) and p. 127 (B&W).

Shows two of the larger islands: Honshu and Kyushu, and several smaller islands. Honshu is oriented east-west rather than northeast-southwest. Hokkaido, the second largest island of Japan, is not shown. Korea is shown as an island, and mainland China is at the left.

PERSIA. Ortelius. 1570/1588.
Persici Sive Sophorum Regni Typus. 11.7"h x 19.5"w. Image very good. Spanish text with page No. 95 on verso.

First appeared in the Latin text edition of Abraham Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum published by Aegidius Coppen Diesth, Antwerp, 1570. In his book, Atlantes Neerlandici, Dr. Koeman indicates that Ortelius himself drew all of his maps in manuscript before passing them to the engravers. This particular map has Spanish text on the verso; the first edition with Spanish text was published in 1588 (Koeman Ort 23). Van den Broecke 167. Later Spanish issues have different page numbers, so this version was published only in 1588. Although Christopher Plantin printed several issues of the atlas, the 1588 Spanish edition was the first he published, paying Ortelius royalties for the rights. Only 300 copies of this 1588 Spanish edtion were printed.

Covers present-day Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Indus River is on the right. The Caspian Sea has an east-west orientation, rather than its generally north-south orientation.

RUSSIA. Bonne. c1780.
L'Empire de Russie, en Europe et en Asie. 3 eme Feuille. Par M. Bonne, Ingenieur-Hydrographe de la Marine Lower right: Andre sculp. Upper right: 83. 14"h x 9"w. Image in very good condition. Map in French. Map by Rigobert Bonne (1727-1795). Engraved by Gespard Andre.

Published in Atlas de Toutes Parties Connues du Globe Terrestre. . . (Paris: G.T. F. Raynal, c1780).

This is a map of the eastern third of Russia, including the Kamchatka Peninsula, Chukchi Peninsula, and parts of Alaska and Sakhalin Island. Mountains are shown in shading and profile.

RUSSIA. Bowen, T. 1788.
The Russian Empire, in Europe & Asia, With the Northern Discoveries Between Asia & North America By Thos. Bowen, Geog’r. Above top neat line: Engraved for Bankes’s New System of Universal Geography, Published by Royal Authority. 12.5”h x 18”w. Several fold lines. Tear one-inch past neat line but not into printed image. Good condition. Map by Thomas Bowen (c1732-1790).

Published in Thomas Bankes, A New and Authentic System of Universal Geography (London: C. Cooke, 1788?).

Shows Novaya Zemlya as a single island, not two. Shows several islands east of Kamchatka that may be representations of the Aleutian Islands, but they are much too close to the peninsula. Korea and Japan are in the lower right. The Great Wall of China is shown.

EAST INDIES. Conder. 1794/1806.
An Accurate Map of the Islands and Channels between China and New Holland. 11 ¼”w x 8 ¾”h. Center below neatline: London, Published Jany. 1st. 1794, by R. Wilkinson, No. 58, Cornhill. Lower right below neatline: T. Conder Sculpt. Original outline and wash color. Wash color partly augmented. Lower left corner of margin missing small piece. Margins lightly soiled and stained but image in very good condition. Tear in right margin repaired with archival material.

Engraved by Thomas Conder. Published in A General Atlas being a Collection of Maps of the World.... London: Robert Wilkinson, 1800. But the Contents page is dated 1805 and another map is dated 1806.

The map includes Philippine Islands, Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Papua New Guinea, and parts of China and Australia.

TURKEY. Jansson. 1636/1647.
Natolia, quae olim Asia Minor. 15”h x 19 ½”w. A few scattered stains in image and margins. Centerfold open in upper margin. Old color. Image in good condition. Latin text verso. Signature “Asia. C”. Map by Jan Jansson (1588-1664). Also known as Johannes Janssonius.

The map first appeared in the 1636 German edition of Gerardi Mercatoris Et I. Hondii. Appendix Atlantis.... Published in Amsterdam by Jan Jansson. Reference Koeman Me 44.

This specific map appears in the 1647 Latin edition of Atlas Novus published in Amsterdam by Jan Jansson. Koeman Me 59.

The map shows Turkey, Crete, Cyprus and part of Syria. The mileage scale at the lower right is vertical in a cartouche, rather than the usual horizontal configuration.

OTTOMAN EMPIRE. Bowen, T. 1788.
A Correct Map of the Ottoman Empire, Including all the Countries, Possess’d by, or Tributary to the Turks, in Europe, Asia & Africa, with part of the Adjacent Territories, according to the latest Observations by Thos. Bowen. 12”h x 16”w. Fold lines. A couple of tiny spots. Image in very good condition. Map by Thomas Bowen (c1732-1790).

Published in Thomas Bankes, A New and Authentic System of Universal Geography (London: C. Cooke, 1788?).

The map extends from Spain to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) to Western India. Dozens of countries are outlined and named. Both the Black and Caspian Seas are included. Mountains are shown in profile and shading. A road network is shown east of the Caspian Sea.