Rare separately issued English map of America, published in London by John Overton.
Following the death of Peter Stent from the plague in 1665, John Overton acquired his stock of maps and copperplates. However, unlike Stent's competitors, Thomas Jenner and Robert Walton, Stent had not prepared a set of maps of the continents. Overton first issued his set of continents in about 1668. The set was largely copied from the maps of Jenner and Walton, which in turn had been copied from earlier Dutch models.
As noted by Burden, Overton copied the decorative borders from Walton's 1658 map of America (which Walton had copied from Van der Keere and Visscher) and Jenner's 1668 map of America for the cartographic content. The large North Polar inset is copied from Walton, who in turn copies Van Den Keere and Visscher. The treatment of California is based upon Briggs.
The map curiously references New Jersey (Iarsey), although there is no sign of Ne York or Manhattan.
Portraits of explorers include:
- Francis Drake
- Ferdinand Magellan
- Christopher Columbus
- Amerigo Vespucci
- Olivier Van Noort
Overton's map, unlike its Dutch counterparts, has a crude folk-art like quality, reflective of a period when English engravers were far less skilled than their Dutch counterparts.
States and Rarity
There are two states of the map, both extremely rare.
- State 1: Dated 1668 in title
- State 2: Date removed and Overton's address changed to Iohn Overton at ye White Horse neere the Fountain Tavern Without Newgate.