Map Sampler

This historical map is an outline map of the world for ladies needlework (“An Outline Map of the World for Ladies Needlework”), originally published in London by Laurie & Whittle around 1798. This type of map was a popular educational tool in Great Britain and the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, designed to teach geography and embroidery simultaneously to young students.

Often printed on silk or satin to be embroidered with colored threads, although paper versions were also sold as guides. It presents the world in two hemispheres (Western/New World and Eastern/Old World). Notably, the map shows Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land) still connected to the Australian mainland and California depicted as a peninsula.

Silk-printed maps that have survived without embroidery, or finely crafted examples by students, are considered rare and of great interest to museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cooper Hewitt. At the time, a satin version cost around 10 shillings and 6 pence.