South Africa

This is an attractively hand-coloured edition of the landmark 1834 map of South Africa produced from the latest information available to the Colonial Office in London. This edition of the map is seldom in the market.

  This map was published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK). The Society's map appeared six weeks after the map by John Arrowsmith (Lot #47):

    "Both fulfilled a long-felt need for a reliable map of the country and have long been lauded by historians as the best maps of South Africa which were published at a time when the demography of the subcontinent was about to undergo a significant change."

  "The map indicates that it was “Compiled from M.S. maps in the Colonial Office”, as well as from information furnished by “Captain Owen’s Survey”. Like all contemporary small-scale maps of newly discovered areas of the British Empire, both maps were compilation maps put together by using various sources of information." (see Prof. Elri Liebenberg)

  The map was considered to be 'state of the art' - it was included in Steedman's 1835 publication of Wanderings and Adventures in the Interior of Southern Africa.

  The map includes the magisterial districts of Swellendam, Beaufort, Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Albany, Worcester and George. What set this map apart from Arrowsmith's larger map, is the inclusion of four insets: the environs of Cape Town; George and Graham's Town; and a plan of central Cape Town.

  The "Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge" was founded in 1826, manly at the instigation of Lord Henry Peter Brougham. The goal of the Society was to distribute useful information via a series of publications to the English working and middle classes. Its maps were published in an Atlas by Chapman and Hall. This edition of the map was published unaltered and later by Edward Stanford - it was printed on firm paper by lithography  and, unusually, is beautifully hand-coloured.These editions of the map are uncommon. The map is printed on firm paper and a small marginal tear, outside the plate line, has been professionally repaired with archival material.

This landmark 1834 map of South Africa was published ca. 1875 with beautiful hand-wash colouring; it is in fine condition and will frame beautifully!