188. Gilbert, John – Evans, Edmund: The Pictorial Missionary Map of the World

London, c.1861.
A scarce and richly illustrated world map depicting the global spread of religions from the perspective of Christian missionaries. The chromoxilograph was produced and published by Edmund Evans, one of Britain’s finest printers and wood engravers of the latter half of the 19th century, based on drawings by John Gilbert. The two hemispheres illustrate the distribution of the world’s religions, surrounded by detailed vignettes contrasting the “pagan” and “Christian” ways of life. The map employs colour coding to denote religious affiliations: Protestant, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Muslim, and Decayed Christian Churches are distinguished from the Heathen regions. Curiously, some faiths, such as Hinduism and Buddhism, appear only in the missionary propaganda scenes encircling the map, while Judaism is completely absent.
Dimensions: 440 × 680 (480 × 760) mm. Slight discolouration in the Pacific areas of the western hemisphere, due to previous folding.
 
Starting price: 450 000,-