Houyhnhnms Land. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels. Australia/Tasmania 1751 map
SKU: P-6-108669
Houyhnhnms Land [Gulliver's Travels]
One of the earliest fantasy maps ever published depicts Houyhnhnms Land, the fictional country visited by Gulliver in the fourth part of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726). Houyhnhnms Land is inhabited by highly intelligent, rational horses called Houyhnhnms, who govern the land, and brutish, deformed humanoid creatures known as Yahoos. The map shows Houyhnhnms Land to be an island south of Australia and west of Tasmania - this southern coast of Australia is longitudinally compressed. Marked on the map are Edels Land (near Shark Bay) and Lewins Land (Cape Leeuwin), both in Western Australia) to the north, and Nuyts Land (the Great Australian Bight) to the north-east, on the mainland with the islands of St Francis and St Pieter (Nuyts Archipelago) further east, and Sweers, Maatsuyker and De Witt islands (The Maatsuyker group off the south coast of Tasmania) to the east. The map is somewhat careless with the scale, however; Edels Land to Lewins Land are shown adjacent, while in reality they are some 1000 km apart, while the sweep of the Great Australian Bight, from Cape Leeuwin, Australia's south-westerly point to the Maatsuyker Islands, off the southern tip of Tasmania, is over 3000 km. The map, while not geographically precise, serves as a satirical tool, emphasizing the fantastical nature of the land and parodying the speculative maps often included in contemporary travel narratives. Like the maps of Lilliput and Laputa, the map of Houyhnhnms Land is unattributed, though it is believed that Swift’s friend, the cartographer Herman Moll, may have inspired its design. This fictional geography underscores Swift’s broader critique of human nature and the philosophical ideals of his time, with Houyhnhnms Land representing a stark contrast to the flawed societies Gulliver had previously encountered. The maps were only included in the early editions of the book.
Size 17 x 9 cm | 6.5 x 3.5 inches
Date Published: 1751
Type: Antique copperplate fantasy parody map
Author: Swift, Jonathan
Publication: Gulliver's Travels
Condition: Good |
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