Detailed wall-map of India, probably prepared at the request of the East India Company, and dedicated to its directors, the large format suggesting that it was prepared for administrative uses from official sources. Indeed, it was the largest map of India published in England to 1768.
Thomas Jefferys was a leading English mapmaker and publisher in the 1750s and 1760s; at a time when the British Government did not have an official cartographic branch, Jefferys was a frequent ally in publishing official or semi-official maps. While this served as a foundation of his success, Jefferys over-reached himself and in 1768 was on the verge of bankruptcy.
This he staved off by entering into partnership with Robert Sayer, but the partnership was short-lived. When it eventually ended Sayer, as a price for his assistance, retained much of Jefferys’ best materials, including this map, which he reprinted with Jefferys’ name erased from the imprint outside the lower border.
Although a remarkable compilation, there are considerable blank areas in the map; it must have brought home to the Company how much of their newly acquired territories they knew little about, and how much more they needed to know - questions largely answered by James Rennell in the next fifteen years.
