Plymouth, England: A Hand-Colored 17th Century Sea Chart by Captain Collins

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This hand-colored sea chart of the area around Plymouth, England from "Great Britain's Coasting Pilot. Being a New and Exact … Read more This hand-colored sea chart of the area around Plymouth, England from "Great Britain's Coasting Pilot. Being a New and Exact Survey of the Sea-Coast of England", first published in 1693. The chart depicts Plymouth Sound and Harbor, as well as Pline River. The chart is adorned with four sailing ships and two compass roses. The beautiful and colorful cartouche includes a dedication to the Earle of Torrington, a prominent officer in the British Navy.

These sea charts by Captain Greenvile Collins (1643-1694) are beautiful, colorful and striking, as well as historically very important to the British navy for approximately 100 years. Captain Collins was appointed “His Majesty’s Hydrographer” by King Charles II and asked to survey the coast of Great Britain and plot all of the harbors, rivers and islands, etc. This took seven years and the resulting charts were first published in 1693. They were published until 1792.

We have 16 sea charts from this series that are all the same size and are framed and matted identically. The frames are a unique plexiglass sleeve design, measuring: 23" x 27.75" x 0.5" and the mats are a cream color. There are small faint areas of discoloration. The map is otherwise in very good condition.

The provenance for these sea charts is very interesting. They were owned by Tom Perkins, who is considered one of the fathers of Silicon Valley. He was one of the founders of Kleiner Perkins Cauffield and Byers, the first big and most influential Silicon Valley venture capital company. Perkins himself was an avid sailor and had at the time the largest and most technologically advanced sailing yacht in the world, the Maltese Falcon. See less