Africa

This attractive, uncommonly available map is by Louis Stanislas Delarochette (1731 - 1802), who worked for William Faden in London. This map first was published in 1803, soon after the cartographer's death; then it was republished by James Wyld in his General Atlas of 1824 (map dated November 1823); Wyld had acquired Faden's business and continued to publish this map four more times until 1840 -  nevertheless, it remains uncommonly available. 

 The title of the map is within a large printed medallion that features a seated female figure with an unusual headdress, with the appearance of an elephant's trunk, which is a symbolic representation of Africa found on coins from Ancient Rome (1st and 2nd centuries CE, during the period of Hadrian and Septimius Severus). Delarochette shows the equator and the equinoctial line (the great circle on the celestial sphere midway between the celestial poles). He also shows a multitude of distance scales.

  This large and impressive map is of the entire continent, including Madagascar. Territories settled by Europeans are presented in original full colour. The map is filled with annotations on the continent's history and various explorations. At the bottom, left there is text on Ethiopia and the Ethiopic Sea.There is a small inset of the Azores.

  The Nile arises from two side-by-side lakes (smaller than normally seen) north of the Equator, joining to form the White River. The map shows wagon roads to the east and north-east in the 'Colony of Good Hope'. 

This is a beautiful map by famous English mapmakers. It is original hand colour, printed on heavy paper and it is in fine condition.

References: Norwich map# 136;Tooley p. 39 - 40