Gray’s New Map of the World in Hemispheres

Lively double hemisphere map of the world published in 1879.

This is a wonderfully detailed lithographed map of the world in two hemispheres. Bright color differentiates between the political organization on each continent, while the Arctic regions reflect the latest explorations of the second half of the 19th century. Comparative diagrams in each corner show the relative length of major rivers and the height of prominent mountains, reflecting the dedication to scientific endeavor typical of the Victorian Era.

An interesting note regarding the height of Mt. Everest. Andrew Scott Waugh of the Royal Geographical Society determined the height of Everest to be exactly 29,000 feet, but it was publicly declared at 29,002 feet for fear of such a round number drawing skepticism and scrutiny. Thus, Waugh is considered “the first person to put two feet on the top of Mount Everest.”

The sheet also contains a Time Diagram, which identifies local times in fifty different cities while noon in Washington, D.C. The same year the map was published, Sir Sandford Fleming first proposed a standard world time linked to the meridian at Greenwich that would have made such a chart largely obsolete.

The image was drawn by Frank Gray and engraved by William Holmes for inclusion in an atlas published by the firm of O.W. Gray & Son in 1879.