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Rare chart of the Gulf of Spezia and the Mediterranean coastline to the north, published by William Heather in London.
Includes soundings, some topographical features, anchorages, forts and other details.
At the southwest point is Porto Venere, gateway to the Cinque Terre, which are just up the coastline to the north and most easily accessed by water taxi from Porto Venere.
The chart appeared in Heather's The New Mediterranean Pilot . . . , published in London in 1802.
Rarity
The charts from Heather's New Mediterranean Pilot . . . are extremely rare on the market. This is the first example of the chart we have ever seen.
Heather's The New Mediterranean Pilot
This small chart comes from the first English attempt at a collection of ports of the Mediterranean, although the genre was well established in France, Italy, and Spain already. The first was published by Joseph Roux in Marseilles in 1764, with versions published in several Italian port cities.
The French and Italian versions were of relatively crude execution, but Heather’s version is notable for the finely engraved charts, many signed in monogram by the London engraver John Stephenson.
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