First map of Australia from Nicholas Vallard's atlas, 1547, in the Library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart. at Middle Hill, 1856

Edition Out of Copyright

Facsimile of chart from Nicholas Vallard's manuscript sea atlas (1547), now held in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. The facsimile was given the title "The first Map of Australia from Nicholas Vallard's Atlas, 1547" by the publisher, in 1856. The original chart was produced in Dieppe, France in the 16th century, and was thought to show possible Portuguese charting of the eastern coast of Australia. The Library holds three examples of the map described on the Library's catalogue as "The First map of Australia...", representing two versions or states of the print. One has the imprint, "McGahey chromo. lith., Chester"; the other two are labelled "The First map of Australia, from Nicholas Vallard's atlas 1547, in the Library of Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart, at Middle Hill, 1856." The map was prepared for the collector Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1st Baronet (1792 -1872), in support of an attempt to dispose of part of the collection to the British Library. Following Phillipps' death, the dispersal of the collection took many years, and the Huntington Library acquired the Vallard atlas in the 1920s. A five-volume history of the collection and its dispersal, Phillipps Studies, by A N L Munby was published between 1951 and 1960. Map is in folder, numbered 835, with title in pencil: "Vallard's map of the coast of Greater Java, chromolithographed from the MS. Atlas in Sir Thomas Phillipps' Library". Title is manuscript addition. Also available online http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-231809408 This variant lacks the adherent labels present on the 2 copies held by the Library at RM 1819. Scale: Scale indeterminable. Printer: (Chester : McGahey chromo. lith.) 1 map : col. ; 37.6 x 55.4 cm.