Published in London by Robert Laurie and James Whittle
Hand coloured copperplate engraving.
c.1800.
This hand-coloured copperplate engraving features the port of Ophir, which is mentioned in the Bible as the region where King Solomon’s gold came from. The identification of Ophir with Sofala in Mozambique was mentioned by Milton in Paradise Lost.  ‘De Sabia’ is a reference to the legend of The Queen of Sheba. The Empire of Monomatapa had its capital where the Great Zimbabwe ruins are today. Many Portuguese named coastal points are depicted. Many of these would change to Dutch; German and then English names, as the sea faring powers exerted their territorial influence.  The map reflects the European knowledge - or lack of knowledge - of the interior of the continent at that time. Many regions are labelled "Unexplored Country" or "Unknown Countries". The map also includes some toponyms that were popular in the latter half of the 18th century, such as "Guinea" the Grain Coast, Tooth Coast, Gold Coast, and Widah (sometimes associated with the name "Judah" on other maps), and "Serra Lione" are all shown.

Saxemberg Island was a phantom island believed to have existed in the South Atlantic. It appeared intermittently on charts between the 17th and the 19th centuries.

The most interesting aspect to this map is the phantom island of Saxemberg. This was reportedly discovered by Dutch seafarer John Lindestz Lindeman in 1670. Lindeman reported the island's coordinates as 30°45′S 19°40′W. Lindeman made a sketch which depicted the island as being low lying, but with a somewhat pointed mountain in the middle. Other sketches, of unidentified authorship, presented a more detailed view of Saxemberg. Major General Alexander Beatson, a resident of St. Helena, reported that he had drawings of the island depicting different forms of plant life. Another resident of St Helena, James Wathen, wrote a book where he surmised that Ascension, Tristan da Cunha, Gough, and Saxemberg constituted an island chain extending 1,800 miles (2,900 km) in length and 500 miles (800 km) in breadth.

730mm x 528mm unframed

R15,000.