WORLD MERCATOR showing mail routes to British colonies. RAPKIN/TALLIS 1851 map

TITLE/CONTENT OF MAP: 'The World on Mercator's Projection'

Vignettes: Vesuvius; Gibraltar; London; Constantinople; Niagara; The Pyramids of Ghizeh; Pont Neuf, Paris. The steam ship routes to the colonies are marked in blue, and the British Empire with its colonies are marked in pink. Marked on the map are the Mountains of Kong and the Mountains of the Moon, non-existent mountain ranges charted on English maps of Africa from 1798 through the late 1880s. An early map resulting from exploration of the area and showing this west to east mountain range in 1798 was produced by English cartographer James Rennell. The Mountains of Kong were thought to begin in West Africa near the highland source of the Niger River near Tembakounda in Guinea, then continue east to the also fictitious central African Mountains of the Moon, thought to be where the White Nile rose. Cartographers stopped including the mountains on maps after French explorer Louis Gustave Binger established that the mountains were fictitious in his 1887-1889 expedition to chart the Niger River from its mouth in the Gulf of Guinea and through Côte d'Ivoire.

DATE PRINTED: 1851    

IMAGE SIZE: Approx 36.5 x 26.5cm, 14.5 x 10.25 inches (Large)

TYPE: Antique engraved map by J Rapkin, published by John Tallis. Original outline hand colour, decorative border, and attractive inset vignette views

CONDITION: Good; suitable for framing. Tight bottom margin below caption. Decorative title & border slightly trimmed at top. Please check the scan for any blemishes prior to making your purchase. Please contact us if you would like to arrange to view this map. Virtually all antiquarian maps and prints are subject to some normal aging due to use and time which is not obtrusive unless otherwise stated. We offer a no questions asked return policy.

AUTHENTICITY: This is an authentic historic map, published at the date stated above. It is not a modern copy.

VERSO: There is nothing printed on the reverse side, which is plain

ARTIST/CARTOGRAPHER/ENGRAVER: Map drawn and engraved by J. Rapkin; vignette illustrations drawn by H Warren & engraved by JB Allen. Published by John Tallis & Co

PROVENANCE: "Tallis's Illustrated Atlas and Modern History of the World, Geographical, Political, Commercial and Statistical", edited by R Montgomery Martin Esq., published by John Tallis and Company, London & New York [Tallis's Illustrated Atlas]