Henry Hall South Africa ZuidAfrica This folded map is by Henry Hall R.E. D whose pioneering

This folded map is by Henry Hall R.E. D whose pioneering contribution to South African Cartography and development of this map only recently has been described, thanks to Elri Liebenberg.

"In 1857, Hall became the first resident cartographer to publish a  map of the entire African region south of 16°S. Entitled South Africa , this map was the first of its kind ever to be produced in  South Africa as not only the compilation, but also the engraving, printing, colouring and mounting were undertaken locally.

Soon after its publication in South Africa Hall sold the copyright of his map of 1857 to Stanford of London who used the existing plates to publish the complete map under both an English and a Dutch title. However, in 1859 Stanford transferred the area south of 25° S to a conical projection, re-engraved it and published another edition, slightly updated 96 (see Figure 5). Except for the area between 16° S and 26°S which was discarded, all detail on the original 1857 map was retained. Although the actual reason for doing away with the area north of 25 S is not clear, especially as the map border now cuts through the Transvaal, the decision was probably based on the scanty information that was available on these areas. Hall’s map of South Africa of 1857.

What makes Hall’s map of 1857 of particular interest is that it is one of the earliest cartographical documents of southern Africa to include the newly-found Boer republics of the Orange Free State (founded 1854) and the Transvaal (founded 1852), but also the routes followed by the mid-19th century explorers into the vast area further north (of 20° South): Orpen and Shelley (1852), Chapman (1854), Livingstone (1853 and 1856), C.J. Andersson (1853), Moffat and Edwards (1854), and Green and Wahlberg (1856).

By including these routes on his map Hall extended the northern limit of his manuscript maps of 1849 and 1850 with 10° and therewith consciously moved into the unknown parts of south central Africa. Hall was a personal friend of almost all the above-mentioned explorers and a possible explanation for his bold decision is that he considered it his duty and obligation to make their geographical achievements known to the wider public.  

The map has been dissected and laid on linen by the publisher; the map is in very good condition, although tears of the linen, between dissected map panels, have been repaired.

As with the edition of the map printed in year before in South Africa (and without the Dutch title), this edition is very seldom in the market.  This is a map for the discerning collector.

Reference:

Elri Liebenberg. Providing a tolerably correct map of South Africa : the cartography of Henry Hall. http://history.icaci.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Liebenberg_Elri_2006.pdf