Contact: contact@AntiqueMapArt.com, Phone: +61 (07) 3103 0391, Mobile: 0011 6723 51512 (Norfolk Mobile)
1814 - A Voyage to Terra Australis; Undertaken for the Purpose of Completing the Discovery of That Vast Country…

Map maker	Size	Map ID	Condition
Matthew Flinders	0 x 0 mm	D14 / M235 / I155	Please contact us for the condition report

Ask about this item

‘A voyage to Terra Australis’ and a ‘General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia’, 1814 by Matthew Flinders. 2 volumes of text and atlas. The Atlas contains 16 charts, 2 coastal views and 10 botanicals. The first edition of Matthew Flinders atlas was issued in a regular and elephant folio, this being the elephant folio (image present displays the smaller work). This epic work that details Flinders circumnavigation of the continet includes Flinders’ map of the continent in which he proposes the name ‘Australia’ for the first time. An extremely important piece of Australia’s history which has become difficult to find. Published by G&W Nicol, 1814.

First edition, two volumes quarto and elephant folio atlas. Vol I: [ii], [xx], cciv, 269, [1], four steel engraved plates; Vol II: [ii], 613, [1], five steel engraved plates, with an atlas of 16 charts, four plates of coastal views and ten botanical plates. "Flinders was the first commander to circumnavigate the Australian continent, and the first to give it its present name. He surveyed the entire south coast from Cape Leuwin to Bass Strait, the east coast, and the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) was an accomplished navigator and cartographer, having circumnavigated the Australian continent, proved that Tasmania was not joined to the mainland, and played a major part in the naming of Australia. Despite Flinders’ short life he accomplished some exceptional feats. His charts were of a particularly high standard and though published in 1814, many continued to be republished and used until recent years. Flinders’ most famous chart was of the Australian continent, published in 1814, which is famously named ‘General Chart of Terra Australis or Australia’. It was the first prominent chart to specifically label the continent as Australia. Sadly, Flinders journeys were marked by some disappointments including shipwrecks, poor vessels, and most notably his six year imprisonment by the French on Mauritius. His imprisonment meant that he was not the first to publish the newly discovered regions of Australia or a ‘complete’ map of the continent. However in 1814 shortly before his death his famous atlas was released with 16 charts detailing a majority of the Australian coastline.

View map online on http://www.antiquemapart.com/map/235