‘A New Map of the World’ is listed in 

’s catalogues of 1667, 1669, and 1672, although not clearly identified. Examples of this state are recorded in the British Library (BL Maps C.39.e.3) as part of a collection of eleven maps, and the New York 

 Library also possesses an example bound into Robert Fage’s ‘Cosmographie’, 1671. However, most examples appear to have been issued separately.

This map is a later state of Stent’s world map first published in 1663. A comparison of the two reveals that all the decorative features surrounding the hemispheres have been replaced, with the exception of the four portraits of circumnavigators. Some of the decoration is drawn from Stent’s earlier world map of 1657 including the two celestial hemispheres, on a polar projection that appear between the cusps of the world. 

Double-page engraved copperplate double-hemisphere map of the world, with contemporary hand-colour in outline.

’s exceedingly rare English map of the world is a reissue of 

’s double-hemisphere map of 1663, incorporating elements of Stent’s 1657 map in the decorative border. Overton’s world map has its own curious points of interest. An interesting detail in North America is the settlement of Henricus (here called ‘Henrica’), the lesser-known sister settlement of Jamestown. A surprisingly accurate note confesses near-total ignorance of the nature of Antarctica but does speculate on the existence of land there based on sightings.

Portraits of the circumnavigators – Ferdinand Magellan, Francis Drake, 

, and Olivier van Noort – are in the four corners. In the upper panels, noble couples from various European countries are depicted in characteristic dress. Along the bottom are figures from other parts of the world including the Americas. Other illustrations provide representations of the seasons and elements, and star charts appear between the hemispheres.

 founded a family firm of retailers and publishers of prints and maps in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England. Overton's career took off after he bought the business of 

 in 1665 (the leading print and map seller and publisher of the previous generation), and with the foundation of the existing plate stock built the business up to be the most successful in London at the end of the seventeenth century.

’s exceedingly rare English map of the world, a re-issue of 

’s double-hemisphere map of 1663, in turn based on 

’s map of the world, and incorporating elements of Stent’s 1657 map of the world in the decorative border.

Overton’s World Map