‘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.

Although Shirley (2001) described this map under a separate entry in his seminal bibliography, it is in fact a later state of 

’s world map first published in 1663 (see SC-TM-1663-Stent-WorldMap). 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. 

The Overton family were leading retailers and publishers of prints and maps in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England. The firm was founded by 

 (1640–1713) who was apprenticed to Thomas Gould in the Stationers’ Company and made free on 4 July 1663. Some two years later he bought the business of 

, the leading print and map seller and publisher of the previous generation, taking over the shop and shop sign. With the foundation of the existing plate stock, Overton built the business up to be the most successful in London at the end of the seventeenth century. While the business depended particularly on the markets for decorative prints, architecture, and copybooks, Overton was obviously interested in cartography, commissioning an impressive range of maps, generally sold separately, sometimes working in conjunction with Philip Lea.


’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. 

The depiction of the four elements is also a reworking of the vignettes from the 1657 map. The most unusual of these is the vignette signifying ‘Earth’, in the background of which a funeral cortege is following a coffin into a church. This references the phrase, ‘earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ from the burial service from the ‘Book of Common Prayer’. This image representing ‘Earth’ is unique to this map. Whether this is merely a reflection of the appalling death rates devastating London at the time of the plague, or a poignant reference to the fate of 

, who had succumbed to the plague in 1665. The elements are flanked by twelve images of costumed national figures. The date is altered to 1670, and the imprint below is adjusted accordingly.

’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.

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



Overton’s World Map, rendered from Stent's double-hemisphere map