An impressive monumental world map two and a half metres wide (eight feet) published at a time of rapid change. Explorations were uncovering the secrets of the Arctic, continental Africa, Australia, and not least the American west. The publisher was James Gardner, engraver, publisher, and a surveyor. Indeed, he was appointed as a surveyor for the Ordnance Survey in 1808 by Colonel William Mudge. He would become the official sales agent for Ordnance Survey maps in 1823 which only lapsed on his retirement in 1840. Whilst he clearly worked heavily with domestic cartography, he was also a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. This ideally placed him to learn early about explorations occurring around the globe.

This magnificent wall map was first published in 1825 of which we could only trace three examples in the British Library, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and the Rumsey Collection, Stanford University. Only one other edition is recorded in 1835 of which just one example is known; it is also in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. This intermediate state published in 1830 is unrecorded and is marked ‘Additions to 1830.’ Printed on eight very large sheets of paper, it was intended to be mounted on a wall or dissected and laid on linen. Its exceptional size contributed to its poor survival rate.
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The sheer scale of this map enables the recording of the very latest detailed information as stated in the dedication, ‘To His Most Gracious Majesty George the IVth. This Delineation of the Present State of Geographical Knowledge is with Permission most humbly dedicated … 1825, Additions to 1830’. Specialist engravers helped with the production of the map; John Water Froggett for the ‘Plan Work and Writing’, and James Palmer for the ‘Hills’. The imprint goes on to name the agents for its sale in Dublin, Paris, Berlin, and Dresden.

In the Pacific, many of the islands bear the dates and names of their discoverers. The information provided is factual, no presumptions are made. The results of the mapping of the Bering Straits are depicted, and Alaska is clearly marked as ‘Russian America’ and ‘Unexplored Country’ marked nearby. Arctic Canada was gradually opening with attempts made to locate a North-West Passage. Explorations were also occurring on land in northern Canada, and the results of the recent discoveries of Captains William Edward Parry and John Franklin are included. With many questions left unanswered Gardner cleverly leaves much of the region open.

Whilst the initial exploration in the American West of Lewis and Clark and Stephen H. Long are recorded, much of it is still labelled as ‘Unexplored’. The border settled in the Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819 is clearly marked. South America at the time in undergoing the development of newly independent nations. In both North and South America native peoples are also identified.

The continent of Africa is about to be opened with several expeditions but here only a few pockets of knowledge are included. Most of these follow navigable rivers such as the Nile, Niger, Congo, and Zambeze. Deep in Africa is ‘Lake Tsad’ (L:ake Chad), identified following the expeditions of Hugh Clapperton and Dixon Denham. In Southeast Asia the new settlement in Singapore is clearly identified. Even less understood is the interior of Australia which beyond the explorations through the Blue Mountains inland from Sydney is devoid of any knowledge. Identified significant alterations from the 1825 edition include the west coast of Russian America, the northern coast and that of Arctic Canada. Further south the Canadian-US border is completely revised moving further south to the Missouri River. An extremely rare survival of a wall map of which only four known examples exist. In addition, this is an unrecorded intermediate state. Rumsey 4755.000 (1825); Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).