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Description
This is a superb, scarce map of Svalbard, printed in 1744. The mapping of the western portions of the archipelago - formerly known as Spitzbergen - is here very accurate, despite being erroneously labelled Greneland. In its earliest version, printed by Samuel Purchas, it was attributed to Thomas Edge, an English whaler and seal-hunter who made a number of voyages to the region, and after whom several features on the map are named. For more than a century, this was the most detailed map of the Arctic archipelago.
The Map The map is untitled, and the most prominent place name on the map is that for Greneland, which was the English term for the islands the Dutch then called Spitzbergen, here referring to Svalbard island itself. To the west of it is Prince Charles Island, now known as