Containing one of the earliest maps of the south coast of Victoria

A rare and early map of Bass Strait, among the first to accurately depict the southern coastline of the Australian mainland, the present-day Victorian coast, west of Western Port. The map shows the region from Cape Schanck to east of Wilson’s Promontory, and includes Bass Strait, King Island, the Kent and Furneaux Groups, Banks Strait, and the northern portion of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), labelled Isola di Van Diemen. The continent itself is titled Ulimaroa o Nuova Olanda (Ulimaroa or New Holland). Published in the June 1802 issue of Annali di Geografia, the map accompanies an account of Lieutenant James Grant’s two voyages in the Lady Nelson (1800–1801), which charted much of the southern coast later known as Victoria. Remarkably, Graberg’s map appeared before Grant’s own narrative (A Voyage of Discovery, London, 1803), making it one of the earliest printed depictions of these discoveries. The map was based on a German version by Baron Franz Xaver von Zach, issued only a month earlier in Monatliche Correspondenz (April 1802). The two are near-identical, with Graberg translating von Zach’s work and adapting it for Italian publication. Graberg’s Carta dello Stretto di Basse predates the first English chart incorporating Grant’s discoveries, published by the Hydrographical Office on 27 January 1803 (after a chart by Ensign Francis Barrallier). This Italian edition is extremely rare and not recorded in standard bibliographies, including Ferguson or Tooley, making it a significant and previously overlooked contribution to the early mapping of southern Australia.