Hawaiian Islands / Sandwich Islands
Berlin, 1787
Copper plate engraving, koa frame
Frame: 22¼ × 28 in. (56.5 × 71.1 cm); image: 11 × 18 in. (27.9 × 45.7 cm)
Provenance: Dr. Terence Barrow, Honolulu, HI
This copper plate engraved map of the Sandwich Islands was published in Berlin in 1787, less than a decade after Captain Cook's voyages brought the island chain into European geographic consciousness and set off a rapid circulation of Pacific cartographic knowledge through Continental publishing centers. Berlin was an active center of geographic publication in the late eighteenth century, and maps of the Pacific issued there during this period reflect both the reach of Cook's published accounts and the competitive European appetite for new geographic information. The map identifies the islands by their early European name, a usage that persisted in print well into the nineteenth century.
The engraving charts the island chain as a geographic subject without figures or narrative scenes, giving the work the austere character of scientific cartography rather than voyage illustration. Presented in a koa frame, the European printed image acquires a Hawaiian material context that suits its history of collection in Honolulu. The Dr. Terence Barrow provenance adds further scholarly weight to an early map of sustained geographic and collecting interest.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Hawaiian Islands / Sandwich Islands
Berlin, 1787
Copper plate engraving, koa frame
Frame: 22¼ × 28 in. (56.5 × 71.1 cm); image: 11 × 18 in. (27.9 × 45.7 cm)
Provenance: Dr. Terence Barrow, Honolulu, HI
This copper plate engraved map of the Sandwich Islands was published in Berlin in 1787, less than a decade after Captain Cook's voyages brought the island chain into European geographic consciousness and set off a rapid circulation of Pacific cartographic knowledge through Continental publishing centers. Berlin was an active center of geographic publication in the late eighteenth century, and maps of the Pacific issued there during this period reflect both the reach of Cook's published accounts and the competitive European appetite for new geographic information. The map identifies the islands by their early European name, a usage that persisted in print well into the nineteenth century.
The engraving charts the island chain as a geographic subject without figures or narrative scenes, giving the work the austere character of scientific cartography rather than voyage illustration. Presented in a koa frame, the European printed image acquires a Hawaiian material context that suits its history of collection in Honolulu. The Dr. Terence Barrow provenance adds further scholarly weight to an early map of sustained geographic and collecting interest.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
