First detailed English map of Jamaica

John Ogilby. 1671 :
Novissima et Accuratissima Jamaicae Descriptio per Johannem Ogiluium Cosmographum Regium. 1671. Light occassional browning as the map is unrestored and not cleaned. Excellent (image uncomplimentary).  17  x 21 inches.

$2500.

This important map of Jamaica is one of the few original efforts in Ogilby's America: being the Latest, and most Accurate Description of the New World. Engraved by Francis Lamb, it is based on the surveys of John Man, Surveyor General of Jamaica. Ogilby divides Jamaica into its various precincts, and lists the numerous plantations of each, indicating their production of cocoa, indigo, sugar, and cotton.

John Ogilby was a colorful character who went from one career to another, each ending badly. His first, after working to pay a debt incurred by his father, was as a dance master. His life as a publisher of maps and plates was his last career, and one which remarkably did not begin until he was 66.