Jersey:Historic Jersey Maps

Six Historic Maps documenting Jersey’s cartographic history are featured on a set of stamps issued by Jersey Post on 17 February 2021.

The stamps have been created as part of a joint issue with SEPAC (Small European Postal Administrations Cooperations) entitled "Ancient Maps". The 70p stamp bears the SEPAC logo.

Issue Description
Known for its dangerous waters and interesting topography, people have been mapping Jersey for the past millennia. The six stamps depict a selection of maps, ranging from a very early map of Jersey produced by John Norden in 1595, to a tourist road map produced by Harry Clark in 1930.

The map imagery has been sourced from the Société Jersiaise in Jersey, the Priaulx Library in Guernsey and The British Library in London and was researched and selected with the assistance of Martin Morgan, author of A Cartographic History of the Channel Islands and founder of award-winning publishing house, Extraordinary Editions.

Stamps
The £ 0.54 stamp portrays one of the earlier maps of Jersey, this image comes from John Norden’s Speculum Britanniæ. This map bares a remarkable similarity to the work of a contemporaneous cartographer, Mercator, and the question remains; whose work came first ?

The £ 0.70 stamp illustrates the map created by Jansson in 1646. Jan Jansson was a Dutch cartographer and seen as the direct successor of Mercator. As such, it is of no surprise that his maps were based on the works of Mercator and another cartographer, John Speed. The strange thing about Jansson’s map of Jersey is that he places the Island in the German Sea.

The £ 0.84 stamp illustrates the map produced by Dobree in 1746. In 1744 HMS Victory was wrecked on Les Casquets, off the coast of Guernsey, with the loss of her entire crew. As a result of this, Nicholas Dobree was commissioned by the Lord High Admiral of Great Britain to produce a set sea charts detailing the waters around the Bailiwick and as a result this map of Jersey was created, detailing the banks, shoals, rocks and soundings surrounding her.

The £ 0.88 stamp portrays the map created by Lempriere, 1796. The Jersey-born Clement Lempriere was a cartographer and draughtsman at the Tower of London. He was in charge of the Drawing Room from 1725. Published posthumously, there is little on the chart to suggest that Lempriere made an original survey, however, the additional detail for entering into St. Helier is of note.

Captain Martin White is the unsung hero of Channel Island map making. His were the first proper fully surveyed charts of the kind we would recognise today. In 1824, White constructed charts of Jersey, Guernsey, Sark, Herm, Alderney, and Les Casquets. To do so over 20 years he surveyed 60,000 square miles, most of it navigated in a open boat. His map of Jersey from this period is shown on the £ 1.05 stamp.

The £ 1.18 stamp portrays Harry Clark’s road map of Jersey is one of many tourist maps produced for "Britain’s sunniest resort" over the decades. Harry’s map reflects Jersey’s early tourist trade and, at the time, cost just 7/2d. The map is a reflection of the Island prior to the German occupation.

Pairs
Each pair features a stamp (one design) from the stamp issue and contains two stamps taken from the same sheet of ten; selvedges are retained and include the traffic lights.

Blocks
Each Block of Four features a stamp (one design) from the stamp issue and contains four stamps taken from the same sheet of ten; selvedges are retained and include the traffic lights.

Sheets
Each Sheet with formatted margin contains 10 stamps (2 x 5) (one design).

First Day Cover
The First Day Cover is an exclusively produced item; all of the stamps from the stamp issue are affixed to a specially commissioned full colour envelope and cancelled with a Jersey Post First Day of Issue special date stamp.

Information and technical details of the issue is printed on the reverse.

SEPAC Folder
The stamps featured in the twelfth edition of the special folder entitled Old Maps 12 contain stamps from the participating postal administrations of Åland, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guernsey, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta and Monaco. All the stamps bear the official SEPAC logo.

SEPAC Series
Other Issues under the SEPAC theme include: