Antique Map of the West Coast of South America with Costume Figures, circa 1860

This is an original antique engraved map, colored by hand, from Fullarton's Companion Atlas to the Gazetteer of the World. It is one of the upright decorative sheets of the atlas and has no center fold. A scrollwork header reads "WEST COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA INCLUDING CHILE & PART OF BOLIVIA & PERU." Below it are an upper map of the highlands of southern Peru and Bolivia south to Tucuman and, across the bottom of the sheet, a map of Chile in three long strips.

The upper map is titled "PERU-BOLIVIAN TABLELANDS;". Down its left side are two engraved tables, the "SNOWY MOUNTAINS with their height", giving total height and height of snowline, and the "PRINCIPAL PASSES with their height". The three Chile strips are headed "NORTHERN PORTION", "CENTRAL PORTION" and "SOUTHERN PORTION"; the last reaches Chiloe Island, the Chonos Archipelago and the "Gulf of Penas". On either side of the upper map stands a hand colored figure, captioned "ARAUCANO INDIAN" on the left and "CHILIAN MINER" on the right.

The upper title continues "Chiefly according to Pentland, Parish, Fitzroy, Meyen, Arrowsmith &c. &c. Constructed by Augustus Petermann F.R.G.S. Engraved by G.H. Swanston." The Chile title reads "CHILE according to ADMIRALTY SURVEYS, UNITED STATES EXPN. GAYE, PHILLIPI, PISSIS &c. by J. Barthlomew Junr. F.R.G.S.", the name spelled so on the plate. The line below the lower right corner of the Chile maps reads "Engraved by J. Bartholomew, Edinr." and the imprint below the center reads "A. FULLARTON & Co. LONDON, EDINBURGH & DUBLIN".

The Companion Atlas to the Gazetteer of the World was published by A. Fullarton and Co. of London, Edinburgh and Dublin and issued to subscribers in parts. The original printed wrapper of Part 7 survives with these maps; it bills forty-three maps, names G. H. Swanston as engraver, and is marked "Colored Copy". Cobija, lettered on the coast of the upper map, was then Bolivia's port on the Pacific; Bolivia lost its coastline to Chile in the War of the Pacific of 1879 to 1884.

This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.