Set of five maps of an imaginary Australia/Antarctic

1607. The five maps from Hall's imaginary voyage to Terra Australis Incognita, the EARLIEST FICTITIOUS VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA. Hall frames his voyage by relating the feats of Columbus, Drake & Magellan, and references their discoveries (the Straits of Magellan are clearly marked) to introduce his moral allegory describing a voyage to the great southern unknown continent. Sometimes seen as a prototype for Swifts "Gulliver's Travels", it is the story of Marcus Brittanicus and his 30-year stay in Terra Australis Incognita, a land consisting of four areas - one inhabited by gluttons, another by fools, a third by thieves and the fourth, Shee-landt, by women. Hall was a Cambridge-educated priest with a liking for verse and 'pungent' satire, who at an early stage in his career incurred the wrath of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who in 1599 ordered the burning of his satires on the ground of licentiousness. The text refers to 'Shee-landt' and the island of "Double-sex Ile", whose hermaphrodite inhabitants dress in a combination of men's and women's clothes and bear such names as Mary-philip or Peter-alice. It is clear why the Archbishop of Canterbury would be incensed.

The maps are unsigned, but believed by Hind to be the work of Kip, and are most interesting. There is a 'general chart' bearing a resemblance to Ortelius' "Maris Pacifici", the first map of the Pacific Ocean, with a large unknown land occupying the bottom half of the map, while the top half has reasonable representations of the continents of North & South America (Virginia; C. de la Florida; California; Rio Grande; Patagones; C. de la Victoria; Peru; Brasilia; Saribano) Africa (Promontor Bone Spei; Monomotapa; Auzica; Abassia) , Asia (Malacca; Sian; Narfinga; Smagar; Maliupar; C. Comori) and parts of Europe. It is accompanied by four smaller more detailed maps, quite littered with place names, intended to focus in more detail on unknown areas of the Southern land. Here we see a satirical mix of fact and fantasy- while there are more tenuous links to geographical fact in the names of Terra sub polaris & Aphrodysia Nova Gynia, (which is suggestive of the north coast of Australia), it is the incredible flights of fancy that dominate - 'Moronia' the land of the fools ; 'Ivronia; the land of the drunkards; 'Larcinia' for the gluttons, 'Plagianus' a land of the thieves; and 'Viraginia' a land of women, with cities named Amazonia, Erotium vel Amantina, and various other lascivious place names.

The dating of the maps is difficult. The book, 'Mundus alter et idem sive Terra Australis', was a popular satirical romance that was printed in three editions between 1605 & 1607, and several later editions post-1640. The maps have page locations engraved within the plate line, Pag. 18, 20, 90, 112 & 192.

Maps drypoint in very good condition, flattened trimmed close with very little margins, printed on laid paper, one with a watermark of a daisy above a hand. For the book see Sabin 29819; Davidson, p40-41; STC (rev.) 12685.3.