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SELLER, John.
A New Systeme of Geography,
Reduced to a Plain & Easy Method For the Ready finding out any Empire, Kingdom, Principality or Government in the whole World.
Publisher: London: John Seller, Hydrographer to the King, [1685]
Stock code: 66584
Price: £37,500 Currency Conversion
First edition of John Seller's very rare work, one of the earliest English world atlases. This copy uniquely offers the maps unfolded and joined with the tables in landscape format, in a contemporary red morocco binding for presentation. The inscription records this as a "munusculum" (little gift) from Elias Sydall, rector of Biddenden in Kent, to Francis and John Tayler, the sons of Francis Tayler of Biddenden. Elias Sydall served as rector of Biddenden for just under three years. He rose to become chaplain to George I (1716–28) and finally bishop of Gloucester (1731–3). The calligraphic Latin inscription was written between 1702 and 1704, during the period of his rectorship. The Taylers or Taylors were a prominent family in the town, both Francises being buried in the nave of All Saints Church, and the younger Francis recorded as having presented the priest's bell to the church in 1717. "Seller's pocket atlases are among the earliest 'English' world atlases; they are superior in execution and content to contemporary rivals, such as Jonas Moore's A New Systeme of the Mathematicks (London, 1681) or Morden's Geography Rectified (London, 1680, with later editions) are appreciably rarer, the several editions of the New Systeme extant in only a handful of copies" (Wardington catalogue). OCLC lists seven copies of the first edition: Clements; Yale; University of Alberta; Winterthur; BL, two copies; and Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. No copy of the first edition appears in auction records for the last 35 years and only five copies of any edition are listed as having sold. Lord Wardington's 1695 edition was withdrawn from sale and presented to the British Library by Lady Wardington. As with many cartographic publications by Seller, this atlas was largely bespoke, with the selection and number of maps varying from copy to copy. The present copy has 38 maps. For comparison, one of the BL examples contains 27 maps, while the Library of Congress copy has 51. In this copy, most unusually, the maps are unfolded (two show evidence of old folds) and then bound with the tables joined to the right edge of each map, conveniently offering image and text at a glance. This copy shows no evidence of having been issued with its letterpress title, having the engraved additional title in its place. Although the latter is undated, the absence of page-numbers on the maps and of Seller's name from the Scotland map are indicators that this composite is from the 1685 first edition. Following the numbered listing given by Phillips in his description of the 1690 edition in the Library of Congress, the present copy includes numbers 1–4, 7–11, 13–24, 26–34, 51 and 56. Phillips does not include the "Pixis Nautica", Compass Rose plate; "A Mapp of the Five Zones"; "A New Mapp of the World" or "A Mapp of the World shewing What a Clock it is";
Oblong octavo (230 × 136 mm). Contemporary red goatskin, expertly rebacked with the original spine, gilt in compartments, laid down, central cottage-roof panel of chain-link and quatrefoil rules with floral corner-pieces to the boards, outer double fillet panel, decorative edge-roll, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Housed in a black quarter morocco solander box made by The Chelsea Bindery. Calligraphic manuscript presentation leaf, hand-coloured engraved title page and 38 hand-coloured engraved maps, the first two - the compass rose and "five Zones" - attached to wide guards, 35 of the maps with the explanatory tables attached at the right-hand margin, the mappa mundi similarly with the volvelle, which has its original stringing and vellum reinforcement, entirely interleaved. A little rubbed on the boards, a few small ink-splashes, light browning throughout and minor marginal stains to a few leaves, but overall a very handsomely presented and clean copy.
