Price: £150.00
Title: Oost Indize voyagie door William Hawkins ... Engraver: De Fer. Nicholas The map shows northern India and the surrounding region from Eastern Persia through to Bangladesh. It illustrates the travels by William Hawkins, the first British emissary to India. The title cartouche includes a vignette showing Hawkins at the court of Jehangir in 1609. In 1607 William Hawkins was sent on ship Hector by English East India Company to negotiate with Moghul Emperor of India, Jehangir for creation of an English factory on India's western coast at Surat. Hawkins had the bad luck to encounter the Indian owner of a ship that had earlier been pirated by Sir Edward Michelbourne. But Hawkins had luck in getting on well personally with Jehangir (a binge drinker and opium taker), speaking in Turkish. Hawkins eventually became a member of the Moghul inner court. This map was found in a decrepit state, the paper being brown and fragile and with a number of wormholes (although in the most part they do not affect the text). The map has been fully retored (cleaned/de-acidified/pressed) and placed on Japan paper. Scarce.
ANTIQUE MAPS (1217)
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