Herman Moll (ca. 1654–1732). Map of Africa (London: J. Bowles, T. Bowles, Philip Overton and John King, [ca.1710]). Published in Atlas Manual: or A New Sett of Maps of all the Parts of the Earth… Copperplate engraving on two sheets hand-colored in outline. 22 1/2 x 38 in. to neatline. Sheet: 23 3/4 x 38 1/2 in. Large allegorical title cartouche with dedication to Charles, Earl of Peterborow and Monmouth; 4 inset views: “A Prospect of the Cape of Good Hope”, and 3 small scenes of the Fort of Good Hope, Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast of Guinea, and James Fort on the Island of St. Helena. A minor stain in the Eastern Ocean (Indian Ocean), tight margins at top and both sides, otherwise excellent condition. $4,500.
$4,500.00
A Popular Map of Africa
A large decorative map by a German-born English mapmaker known for a number of influential maps, including the Atlas Geographus, a monthly magazine that ran from 1708 to 1717, and The World Described (1715-54). The map is dedicated to Charles Mordaunt (1658-1735), a nobleman and military leader, commander of the English campaign in Spain in 1705.
One of the characteristics of a Moll map is the highly descriptive text. Here, for example, above Guinea, he writes: “I am credibly informed, that ye Country about hundred Leagues North of the Coast of Guinea, is inhabited by white Men, or at least a different kind of People from the Blacks, who wear Cloaths, and have ye use of Letters, make Silk, & that some of them keep the Christian Sabbath.”
He shows the best course for sailing from Great Britain to the East Indies “in the spring and fall” (follow the dots), as well as the general directions of winds and the months in which they prevail. Grain, Ivory, Gold, and Slave coasts are clearly identified for commercial interests. In Moll’s construction, the Niger originates in Borno Lake, possibly a reference to today’s Lake Chad. The vast Nile River is shown flowing into the Mediterranean Sea. The Mountains of the Moon (here, “Luna Mountains”) form the southern boundary of a vast Ethiopia, a country that is “wholly Unknown to the Europeans.”
As if to promote an English presence on the continent and to show that it can be protected, the map includes insets of several English forts as well as an attractive “prospect” (with a key) of the Cape of Good Hope. Like other nationalistic mapmakers, Moll has set his prime meridian on his country’s capital, but here he acknowledges the classical one through Ferro Island in the Canaries as well.
Highly descriptive and masterfully illustrated, Herman Moll’s map of Africa is one of the most interesting and compelling depictions of the region during the 18th century.
References: Phillips, Atlases, 309.
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