Attractive examples of the first issue of each hemisphere. Australia is labelled as "New Holland", and shows "New South Wales Discovered by Capt Cook 1770". The tracks shown include Cook's three voyages, La Perouse, and Vancouver. The deaths of Cook and Clerke are noted. Botany Bay and Port Jackson are shown: "M. de la Perouse arrived at Botany Bay Jan 24 1788 and has not been heard of since he left that place". Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) is an island, separated from the mainland by the "Basses Strait".

The mapmaker
John Cary (1754-1835) was a London based cartographer active in the early part of the nineteenth century. Tooley writes of Cary, "As an engraver he was elegant and exact with fine clear lettering and great delicacy of touch". Cary began his work as an engraver, cartographer, and globe maker in 1776 with his 'New and Correct English Atlas'. This important atlas represented a new phase in cartography where accuracy and detail rose in prominence over the decorative embellishments of the 18th century. This change was indicative of the times when travel and commerce were expanding globally as never before. Cary's mastery of both engraving and cartography resulted in a series of seminal works that redefined mapmaking in the early nineteenth century. His 'New Universal Atlas', published in 1808, set the standard for all cartographers who followed. Cary reissued this seminal atlas in 1811, 1819, 1824, 1828, 1833, 1836 and 1844. Cary also did considerable work on the English Ordinance Survey prior to 1805. His cartographic work particularly inspired the Edinburgh school of cartography as represented by John Pinkerton and John Thomson. In America, Cary's work was used as the basis for Tanner's important New American Atlas. Cary's last published atlas appeared posthumously in 1844, however, by 1850 Cary's work was being carried on by his sons and other well-known cartographers including James Wyld, John Tallis & Company, and Crutchley.