A Mapp of All The World.

An exceptional example of this very rare, separately published, beautifully adjusted map, highlighted with gold coloring. A fine engraved double-hemisphere map of the world, the title fully gilded with raddled outline along the upper edge and with the dedication to Charles II and imprint in a fine cartouche lower centre ( Slightly brown paper sides because of previously glazed and placed into matboard.

William Berry's "A Mapp of all the World..." is a " copy " of the Sanson world map as published by Hubert Jaillot in 1674.

Berry has patriotically marked the islands discovered by Drake just off Tierra del Fuego and has added New Albion in the northern part of California, shown as an island ... Van Diemen's land is still floating on its own, far detached from Australia, which is missing much of its southern and eastern coastlines. A massive Land of Jesso or Jeco bridges most of the distance between Japan and California. The search for the Northwest Passage is much in evidence, with only conjectural coastlines shown north of the unnamed Hudson's Bay.

This double-hemispheric map of the world was dedicated to Charles II. In the hundred years since Ortelius's Typus Orbis Terrarum, much had been discovered and named in the Americas, and a comparison between the two maps shows the knowledge that had been gained. The definition of the coastlines of the Americas is much more accurate, with the exception that California is here an island (a mistake repeated frequently in the 17th century). The stunning outline color and large format of this map make it an important item for any collector, even more so because it is of English origin.

Berry William - THE ENGLISH SANSON
Thomas Chubb describes Berry as a bookseller, geographer, and engraver, who was active between about 1670 and 1703. His most enduring partnership was with map-maker Robert Morden, and together they dealt in topographical works, prints, maps, charts and globes. Berry corrected and amended a set of maps of the World, described by Nicolas Sanson as here, which were issued separately between 1680 and 1689 "as a collection they are known as the English Sanson" and are very rare" (Chubb).

Berry advertised his two-sheet world map in the "Term Catalogues" for June 1680 and then in the "London Gazette". It was available either in sheet form or to be 'bound in books or pasted on cloath at reasonable rates" (Shirley).

Historical background
Very few English mapmakers made a name for themselves in the 16th and 17th centuries. The main reason for this is probably the fact that Dutch cartographers were generally so far ahead of their competition that to challenge them seemed an insurmountable task. William Berry was one exception to this rule, and he produced maps that could compete, with respect to accuracy and beauty, with those of the great mapmakers. A London bookseller and engraver, Berry was established for many years at the company “Sign of the Globe,” where he specialized in maps, prints, and geographical works. Among his many geographical publications were "Cosmography and Geography" of 1608--from which this map originates--and "Geography Rectified" of 1688.

Reference: Shirley 501; Wagner 417.