Maps > North America(349 items) > Colonial America (75 items) 
Sort by: 
 Results Page: (total 8 pages)
  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8    [>> Next page]  
 
BAUMAN, Sebastian

[Battle of Yorktown] To His Excellency Genl. Washington Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States of America. This Plan of the investment of York and Gloucester has been surveyed and laid down, and is Most humbly dedicated by his Excellency's Obedient and very humble servant, Sebastn. Bauman, Major of the New York or 2nd Regt of Artillery

Philadelphia: 1782. Copper engraving, with original hand-colouring. "References to the British Lines" is set within a scroll in the upper right-hand corner. At lower center is a lengthy key or "Explanation" of the battlefield, which identifies and describes eighteen key locations on the battlefield. The explanation is set within a rococo frame, which in turn is enclosed by the flags of the United States and France, cannon, arms, and other spoils of battle. Some minor creases on verso from previous folding, restoration to margins beyond platemark. Image size (including text): 25 1/2 x 17 7/16 inches. Sheet size: 27 x 18 7/8 inches.

"A cornerstone document of our national heritage" (Nebenzahl, Atlas, p. 184.)

Within three days of the British surrender on October 19, 1781, Major Sebastian Bauman, an American artillery officer, took the field and carefully surveyed the terrain and battle positions at Yorktown. A native of Germany, Bauman had emigrated to America after service in the Austrian army. During the Revolution, he served in the campaigns in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and was in command of the artillery at West Point, before joining Washington at the siege of Yorktown.

Bauman spent six days surveying the battlefield at Yorktown. His manuscript draft was quickly sent to Philadelphia where it was engraved by Robert Scot to be sold by subscription. The map was advertised in The New York Packet and the American Advertiser in March 1782:

"Major Bauman of the New York, or Second Regiment of Artillery, Has Drawn a Map of the Investment of York and Gloucester, in Virginia. Shewing how those posts were besieged in form, by the allied army of America and France; the British lines of defence, and the American and French lines of approach, with part of York River, and the British ships as they then appeared sunken in it before Yorktown; and the whole encampment in its vicinity./ This Map, by desire of many gentlemen, will shortly be published in Philadelphia, in order that the public may form an idea of that memorable siege. Those gentlemen who incline to become subscribers will apply to the printer hereof; where the conditions will be shewn, and subscription money be received."

This was the only detailed battle plan of Yorktown published in America. As a participant for the winning side, Bauman was able to spend more time surveying the field than the British engineers who were bottled up in Yorktown. Thus he was able to include an extensive area to the south of the town that does not appear on the best British plans, such as those published by Faden and Des Barres. The location of the French and American positions is necessarily more detailed and informed. As it appeared in print before the British plans, it was the first survey of the Siege of Yorktown made available to the American public.

Margaret Pritchard notes that the plan was also an effective piece of propaganda: "In addition to providing substantial detailed military information, this map is also interesting for its artistic composition. Yorktown, Gloucester Point, and troop positions are confined primarily to the top half of the map. The lower half is dominated by the explanation that is embellished with ornaments of war. The shape of the scrollwork cartouche surrounding the explanation, with flags and banners that thrust upward from both sides, force the eye to the center of the image. "Here, in an open space, is the very heart of the map, 'The field where the British laid down their Arms'. " It is this field that is omitted from all of the British battle plans of Yorktown.

Bauman's plan is a legendary rarity which almost never appears on the market. Its scarcity is due to the fact that it was separately published by subscription only. Relatively few sheets were printed, and very few of those survived. Wheat & Brun locate eight institutional copies, but not one in Virginia. To these, we can add four copies known to us in private American collections.

Perhaps Nebenzahl summarized the importance of the map best: "Bauman's splendid map, dedicated to General Washington, reflects his formal European training in topographical engineering. It is the only American survey of the culmination of the great struggle for independence and a cornerstone document of our national heritage."

Alexander O. Vietor, The Bauman Map of the Siege of Yorktown; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, The Mapping of America, p. 199; Degrees of Latitude, 68; Nebenzahl, A Bibliography of Printed Battle Plans of the American Revolution, 189; Nebenzahl, Atlas of the American Revolution, Map 48; Wheat & Brun, Maps and Charts Published in America Before 1800: A Bibliography, entry 541; Fite & Freeman, A Book of Old Maps, pp. 287-288; Stokes & Haskell, American Historical Prints, pp. 57-58; Virginia Magazine of History & Biography 39 (1931), reproduced opp. p. 104.

#20696$250,000.00
 
 
BEAURAIN, Jean Chevalier de (1696-1772, cartographer) - Georg Friedrich Jonas FRENTZEL (1754-1799, engraver)

[Greater Boston] Carte von dem Hafen und der Stadt Boston

Leipzig: Johann Carl Müller, 1776. Copper-engraved map, with troop positions highlighted in period colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 22 x 26 7/8 inches.

A very rare and highly decorative work, one of the most important Revolutionary War maps of Boston, that Krieger & Cobb cite as "the only German map of Boston [made] during the Revolutionary period."

The present map is an outstanding work on many levels. Boston and its environs are depicted on the eve of one of the most momentous events in American history, the Siege of Boston, which gave George Washington his first important victory. A great topographical work, the varied nature of the land is expressed with great virtuosity in finely engraved hachures. The superlative mapping of the coastline and the harbor is derived from J.F.W. Des Barres' "Map of the port of Boston."

The map captures the moment when British forces, still in control of Boston, prepare to face George Washington's Continental forces. Boston, on a narrow peninsula is shown to be in an increasingly precarious defensive position. In an improvement over its predecessor, Frentzel's edition makes a clear reference to the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), noting the "Ruinen von Charles=town." Around the city, the placement of the respective forces is depicted with unparalleled accuracy, with the British troop lines highlighted in blue and the Continental troop lines in red. Three divisions of Washington's forces are placed with one at Cambridge, one at Charlestown Neck, and another above Roxbury. The observer will notice that the British commanders elected not to place troops atop Dorchester Heights. Washington later took this ground, giving him an irrepressible advantage over the British in the ensuing siege. The British were compelled to leave the city in March, 1776.

This second version is much rarer than Beaurain's original work which was printed earlier that year with French toponymy. Preserved in the present version, in the upper-right, is a highly decorative and iconographically emblematic title cartouche. Beaurain, in homage to the French sympathies to the rebel cause, depicts an Englishman cruelly trying to depose a banner from the Tree of Liberty, against the will of an indignant American.

Although the conflict inspired considerable interest in Germany, this map is the only German map of Boston printed there during the Revolutionary period. Late in 1776, Leipzig master-engraver G. F. J. Frentzel created a new edition of the map that was faithful to Beaurain's original, and it was printed as part of the Geographisches Belustigungen zur Erläuterung der neuesten Weltgeschichte, an extremely rare German book on the early days of the War of Independence.

Cresswell, The American Revolution in Drawings and Prints, 706; Krieger & Cobb, Mapping Boston, p.181, pl. 27; The Library of Congress Quarterly Journal no.30 (1973), pp.252-253; Nebenzahl, A Bibliography of Printed Battle Plans of the American Revolution, 19; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 924

#19226$37,500.00
 
 
BELLIN, Jacques Nicolas (1703-72)

[Great Lakes] Partie Occidentale de la Nouvelle France ou du Canada

Nuremberg: Homann Heirs, 1755. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 21 1/8 x 24 1/8 inches.

A very fine edition of Bellin's map, and one of the most important maps of the Great Lakes

This important map depicts the Great Lakes as they appeared in the years immediately before the Seven Years War, and significantly, it "constituted the first new material pertaining to New France to appear since the maps of Guillaume de L'Isle three decades earlier" (Heidenreich & Dahl). The present map represents the edition published by the esteemed firm, Homann Heirs as part of their Atlas Maior. It is closely derived from Bellin's 1745 first state of the map. A curious aspect of the map is its foreshortened rendering of Pennsylvania and New York. While this map evinces the latest in French knowledge of the region, it curiously places many fictitious islands, most notably "Ile Philippeaux" in Lake Superior. The land is still shown to be the domain of various native nations, including the "Pays des Iroquois" and the "Pays de Miami," and features the locations of numerous native villages. This in mind, the region was under tenuous French hegemony, as indicated by the presence of forts and Jesuit missions, such as "Fort Frontenac" (Kingston, Ontario), Niagara, Detroit, Sault Ste. Marie, and Kaskasquias in southern Illinois. The future site of Chicago is noted on the shores of Lake Michigan as "R. et Port de Chicagon". The coastline of the Thirteen Colonies from Chesapeake Bay to New York City is visible in the lower right corner. Bellin's rendering of the Great Lakes proved to be the most important cartographic source in the coming decades, most notably for John Mitchell's A Map of the British & French Dominions in North America (1755), the map that was used to define the boundaries of the newly independent United States in 1783. The composition is graced in the upper center-right by an extremely virtuous title cartouche of a rococo ethic.

Karpinski, Bibliography of the Early Printed Maps of Michigan, p.138; Kershaw, Early Printed Maps of Canada III, 950, plate 715; Phillips, A List of Maps of America, p.191; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 19; Cf. Heidenreich & Dahl, 'The French Mapping of North America', in The Map Collector 19 (June, 1982); Schwartz & Ehrenberg, The Mapping of America, p.165, pl.97

#19857$4,500.00
 
 
BELLIN, Jacques Nicolas (1703-72)

[North America] Carte de l'Amerique Septentrionale Depuis le 28 Degré de Latitude jusqu'au 72

Paris: J. N. Bellin, 1755. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour, in very good condition, with facsimile repairs to upper left cartouche, with official stamp of the "Depot de la Marine". Sheet size: 25 1/2 x 37 inches.

A very important and highly attractive large-scale map of North America by one of the eighteenth-century's greatest cartographers

The present map is one of the most fascinating and influential maps of North America to be made in the years shortly before the voyages of James Cook ushered in a new era of exploration that defined the west coast of the continent. This is also one of the last maps to depict the Franco-American empire, which was then at its greatest extent, immediately before it was entirely lost to Britain and Spain in the Seven Years War (1756-63). The map embraces the entire region from the northern reaches of the Gulf of Mexico up to the lower regions of the Canadian Arctic, and extends from California in the southwest to Greenland and Iceland in the north Atlantic. Critcally, this map is perhaps the finest record of the travels of the Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varrennes, the Sieur de La Vérendrye and his sons, François and Louis. The La Vérendryes explored the heart of the continent from the upper Missouri River basin to the Rockies from 1731 to 1742. They followed the "Assiniboile" (Assiniboine) River deep into the Prairies into modern-day Alberta. Further to the south, they explored the country of the Mandan tribe in the Dakotas and Montana, and the map notes that the partially delineated "Riv. des Mantans" was indeed not the source of the Missouri River. The Rockies are indicated by the notation of the "Montagne de Pierre Brillante" (the Mountain of the Shining Stone), a native name inspired by the gleaming snow-capped peaks that led the range to be known as the 'Shining Mountains' before they acquired their modern name. The massive lakes of Manitoba, such as "Lac Ouinipique" (Lake Winnipeg) are delineated, however the map shows the great rivers to their north as running into the lakes, when in reality these rivers flowed into Hudson's Bay. Various French fur trading posts, such as the "Fort de La Reine" and "Fort Charles" are located on the waterways of the interior. The La Vérendryes maintained notably excellent relations with the Cree and Assiniboine peoples, however language difficulties caused the Frenchmen to misinterpret geographical information that was conveyed to them by the natives, and this both created new and reinforced existing mythologies regarding the lands beyond the Rockies. While a large notation indicates that it is not known whether the area in the northwestern portion of their map is land or sea, an area of undefined parameters is labeled as "La Mer de l'Ouest". This imaginary basin was conceived of by mapmakers in the late seventeenth-cenury and the La Vérendryes thought that a 'River of the West' connected this sea to the Pacific through one of two inlets that were allegedly discovered by Spanish mariners. These two locations are noted on the map along with the dates of their discoveries as the "Entrée de Martin d'Aguilar 1602" and the "Entrée de Juan de Fuca 1592," the latter approximating the location of an actual strait that still goes by the same name. The portrayal of California notes Sir Francis Drake's discovery of San Francisco Bay in 1578 and Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo's naming of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1542. Further north, an isolated strip identifies the coastline of what is now the Alaskan Panhandle, as discovered by the Russian mariners Vitus Bering and Alexei Chrikov in 1741. The advanced coverage of the Spanish territory of New Mexico and the Mississippi Basin, the latter comprising the French colony of Louisiana, is based on renderings by Guillaume de L'Isle and Jean-Baptiste D'Anville respectively. Bellin's depiction of the Great Lakes and eastern Canada is the same as that conveyed in his celebrated contemporary regional maps of the subjects. All of the Thirteen British colonies of the eastern seaboard are shown in great detail. The great artistic virtue of the map is confirmed by its adornment with two large cartouches lavishly decorated in the French rococo style.

Bellin, then the official hydrographer to Louis XV, and as master of the Dépot des Cartes et Plans de La Marine, had access to the most advanced cartographic resources available to the French state. The present map is one of his finest works, and was included as part of the L'Hydrographie Française, a great sea atlas, published by Bellin in two volumes from 1755 to 1766. It was also sold separately, as indicated in the lower right corner of the map for a price of "Cinquante Sols." Bellin was so highly regarded that the British (who were almost always at war with France) made him a member of their Royal Society.

Heidenreich & Dahl, The Map Collector, Vol.19 (1982), p.5; Tooley, Map Collectors' Circle 96, 764; Wagner, Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America, 582.

#19705$3,000.00
 
 
BLAEU, Willem (1571-1638)

Insulæ Americanæ in Oceano Septentrionali, cum terris adiacentibus

Amsterdam: Blaeu, 1640. Engraved with period outline colour. French text. Mild soiling more evident at the edges. Repaired split at base of center fold. Image size (including text): 15 x 20 3/4 inches. Sheet size: 18 x 23 3/8 inches.

This attractive map called the American Islands is essentially a coastal chart of the eastern seaboard from the Chesapeake to Florida, all of the Gulf of Mexico to the Orinoco River in Venezuela, and part of the Pacific coast of Central America.

The map was based upon the Hessel Gerritz map of circa 1631, which was separately published and is extremely rare. Gerritz was the cartographer for the Dutch West India Company, working under Johannes de Laet, who was in charge of Dutch interests in the Americas and Africa. The new material for this map was gathered in 1628 during a voyage through the region that may have included Chesapeake Bay and certainly included all the places from the Bahamas south and southwest depicted in the map.

Koeman, Bl 17, #81; Goss, Blaeu's The Grand Atlas of the 17th Century, p. 124-125; Burden, #242 and #236.

#13895$2,500.00
 
 
BOWEN, Emmanuel (c.1720-67)

[North and South Carolina] A New & Accurate Map of the Provinces of North & South Carolina &c. Drawn from late surveys and regulated by Astronomical Observations.

London: E. Bowen, 1747. Copper-engraved map, with full margins, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 15 7/8 x 19 7/8 inches.

A very fine eighteenth-century map of the Carolinas, by a respected English cartographer

This very interesting and highly detailed map depicts the east coast from the mouth of Chesapeake Bay to northern Florida, and features all of North and South Carolina and Georgia. It was included in Bowen's atlas A Complete System of Geography, one of the finest English geographies of the mid-eighteenth century, first published in 1744, with the present map being included in the second edition of 1747. Bowen derived this map from one of the twenty sheets of Henry Popple's monumental map of the continent, Map of the British Empire in North America (London, 1733). This map is immensely detailed, and is a fascinating historical document regarding the development of the American South during the British colonial era. The map shows that the coasts of the Carolinas were then relatively well-settled, organized into counties, with large towns connected by roads. The colony of Georgia, although founded only in 1733, had developed well past its initial beginnings in Savannah, with a new network of bastions, including Forts William and Augusta defending its frontiers. The Spanish base of St. Augustine, looms to the south, widely considered to have been the greatest threat to British hegemony in the region. Inhabited by the odd British outpost, the interior of the South is still shown to be a wilderness, with the borders between colonies shown to be somewhat ambiguous. The interior was then considered to be a dangerous land still in the possession of native tribes and subject to incursions from French and Spanish military expeditions. This point is highlighted by the interesting note that appears near the center of the map which reads: "The Cherokee Indians is a Numerous & Warlike Nation & as they are in Amity & Alliance with the Subjects of ye King of Great Britain, they serve as a powerful Barrier to Carolina & Georgia in the present war against France & Spain."

Cumming, The Southeast in Early Maps, 263

#19692$1,500.00
 
 
BRASSIER, William Furness (fl. 1745-1772)

[Revolutionary War - Lake Champlain] A Survey of Lake Champlain including Lake George, Crown Point, and St. John. Surveyed by order of Maj.-Gen. Sir Geoffrey Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of His Majesty's Forces in America (now Lord Amherst), by William Brassier, draughtsman, 1762.

London: R. Sayer & J. Bennet, Aug. 5th, 1776. Copper-engraved map, with original wash colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 29 1/4 x 21 3/8 inches.

A rare example of Brassier's magnificently detailed map of Lake Champlain, in a state that captures this theatre in the Revolutionary War, and importantly depicting the very first battle fought by the U.S. Navy

This excellent large-scale detailed chart of Lake Champlain was based on the field work of William Brassier conducted through 1758 and 1759, whilst he was in the employ of James Montresor, the chief surveyor of the northern part of the British American colonies. The main section of the map embraces the entire length of the waterway from Lake George through Lake Champlain, and north past the Quebec border to depict the upper Richelieu River Valley as far as St. Jean. The great accuracy and detail of the map is testament to Brassier's immense skill as a surveyor and draughtsman, as he would have had to perform his role under very trying circumstances. At the time the region was an active front in the Seven Years War (1756-63), as British forces under Sir Jeffery Amherst advanced on the Marquis de Montcalm's French forces, who were guarding the southern approaches to Montreal. The inset in the lower left corner of the map features an extremely detailed rendering of Lake George, surveyed by British Captain Jackson in 1756. The map evinces the English nomenclature given to the newly captured French forts, most notably Fort Ticonderoga, which was formerly Fort Carillon, and Crown Point, formerly Fort St. Frederic. In addition, the map shows the recently constructed Fort George, on the lake of the same name, so called after the British monarch in 1755. The map features fascinating details relating to the events of the Seven Years War, describing altercations between the protagonists.

Importantly, the present second state is advanced of the first in that it illustrates the very first battle fought by the U.S. Navy - the Battle of Valcour Island, which transpired near present-day Plattsburgh, New York. Following the failed American attempt to invade Canada in 1775, the British decided to mount a powerful reprise designed to geographically sever New England from the mid-Atlantic colonies by seizing control of the Lake Champlain-Hudson Valley corridor. To create their Lake Champlain fleet, the British summoned a skilled team of craftsmen to St. John (St. Jean-sur-Richelieu) to assemble ships that were pre-fabricated in England, while the Americans relied on far more limited means to cobble together their fleet of 16 ships at Skenesborough. Hardly an equal match, the Americans could muster only 16 ships and 750 hands, while the British side's 30 ships carried 1,670 hands. The British fleet, commanded by Sir Guy Carleton, the Governor-General of Canada and Captain Thomas Pringle set out to doggedly pursue the enemy. The commander of the American fleet, the soon to be infamous Benedict Arnold, knew that he would be totally destroyed in an open battle, so on October 11th, 1776 he cleverly lured the British fleet into engaging him in a narrow, rocky passage. The confined space limited the British advantage of superior fire power, and though following a pitched battle, the Americans had suffered more damage than their opponents, some of the fleet managed to escape the scene. While the British were later able to destroy most of the remaining American vessels, their tactical victory proved to be strategically pyrrhic. The Americans had successfully created a delaying tactic that effectively prevented the British from seizing the all important forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The failure of the British to quickly complete their mission ensured that the Americans were able to re-group in time for the new season, and this in good part allowed them to deal a crushing blow to the British at the Battles of Saratoga in October, 1777.

Brassier's survey remained in manuscript form until the early days of the American Revolution, when the first state appeared in the 1776 edition of Thomas Jefferys's American Atlas, one of the most important and influential works of the cartography of the continent. The present second state appeared in both the 1778 edition of the American Atlas and the Sayer & Bennett's American Military Pocket Atlas - the so-called 'Holster Atlas,' which was used by British commanders in the field. Brassier's original manuscript is today preserved in the Faden Collection at Library of Congress.

Guthorn, British Maps of the American Revolution, 12/3&4; Fite & Freeman, A Book of Old Maps, pp.212-216; Nebenzahl, Atlas of the American Revolution, pp. 61-63; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, The Mapping of America, p.190; Seller & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 1071 & 1073; Stevens & Tree, 'Comparative Cartography', 25b, in Tooley, The Mapping of America

#19727$9,500.00
 
 
BROWNE, Patrick

[Jamaica] A New Map of Jamaica, In which the Several Towns, Forts, and Settlements are accurately laid down...the Greatest part drawn or corrected from actual surveys made by Mr. Sheffield and others, from the year 1730 to the year 1749

London: [At lower center:] "Published according to Act of Parliament 1755.". Copper-engraved wall map with inset: "A General Plan of Port Royal" by J. Bayly, on two joined sheets, with original outline colour, in very good condition. Sheet size: 29 x 54 1/4 inches.

An unrecorded state of the "The first large-scale map of Jamaica"

This large, dramatic map of Jamaica, the first large scale map of the island, corresponds to the new importance and interest the island had for the British due to the vast fortunes compiled in sugar and slaves. This map, which includes topographical details and some roads, shows the sites of many sugar plantations, most of which were located in the southeast near the harbors.

Kapp notes two states, the first with the imprint of John and Carrington Bowles (1755), the second with that of Carrington Bowles and Robert Wilkinson (1790). This example has no imprint, but still bears the date 1755. It is probably an intermediate state between those listed by Kapp.

Aside from the lack of imprint, this example is identical to Kapp's first state. The map is the most detailed and exact for Jamaica published to its time. It locates "Gentleman's Seats," sugar works, churches, taverns, "crawls," "ginger, coffee, and indigo settlements," barracks, etc. The large inset shows both the portion of Port Royal destroyed in the earthquake of 1692, and that part which was still standing. Twenty-four sites in the town are identified by key.

Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 1916; See Kit Kapp, "The Printed Maps of Jamaica up to 1825," (MCS 42), 71, plate 25 (first state.) Not in National Maritime Museum Catalogue.

#10566$7,000.00
 
 
[CATESBY, Mark (1683-1749)] - Johan Michael SELIGMANN (1720-1762)

[Southeastern North America] Carolinae Floridae nec non Insularum Bahamensium cum partibus adjacendibus delineato ad exemplar Londinense in lucem edita a..., Seligmann

Nuremberg: Seligmann, 1755. Copper-engraved map, with full original colour, in good condition apart from an expertly repaired split to an old fold. Sheet size: 19 1/2 x 25 5/8 inches.

A fine copy of the first and only Continental edition of a 'Map of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands,' here with particularly fine period hand-colouring.

The English edition of this map (first published in Vol.II of Mark Catesby's Natural History of South Carolina, and the Bahama Islands, London, 1743) is now virtually unobtainable. This has greatly increased the desirability of this fine Continental version, which is itself quite scarce. Seligmann's Sammlung verschiedener auslaendischer und seltener Vögel was published in nine parts between 1749 and 1776, and included a German translation of Catesby's work with re-engraved versions of his images, including the present map. Catesby's work was the first natural history of American flora and fauna. The Catesby scholar, G.F. Frick calls this map 'a good representation of the better English ideas about the geography of North America' in the period.

It is not generally recognized that the English version of this map appeared in two states. On the first state of 1743, the territory on both sides of the Mississippi was coloured green, to indicate that the entire region was in the hands of the French. A second state was included in the third edition of the Natural History in 1771, altered to show the political realignment brought about by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The territory on the east bank of the Mississippi, which had been acquired by Britain, was now coloured green; the territory to the West, which now belonged to Spain, was coloured blue. The present German edition corresponds with the English first state. The map shows Southeastern North America as far west as the Mississippi River, plus the nearby Caribbean islands of the Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and Hispaniola

Cf. Cumming, The Southeast in Early Maps (1998 ed.), 210 & 292

#18372$15,000.00
 
 
CORONELLI, Vincenzo Maria (1650-1718)

[North America] America Settentrionale Colle Nuove Scoperte fin all' anno 1688

Venice: V.M. Coronelli, [1690, or later]. Copper-engraved map, on two joined sheets, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 24 x 35 inches.

A superlative impression of Coronelli's important and innovative map, and a foundation map for any serious collection of the cartography of North America

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, a Venetian scholar and Minorite Friar, became one of the most celebrated map and globe makers of his era. Throughout his industrious life he produced more than one-hundred terrestrial and celestial globes, several hundred maps, and a wealth of cartographic publications. In 1683, he completed the Marly Globes for Louis XIV, the largest and most magnificent globes ever made. In 1684 he founded the Academia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, the first geographical society, and was appointed Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice. He published two atlases, the Atlante Veneto (Venice, 1691) and the Isolario (1696-98), and compiled the first encyclopedia to be arranged alphabetically.

This magnificent map of North America, published in the Atlante Veneto, is widely considered to be one of Coronelli's finest maps, and is cartographically similar to the scene depicted on his famous globe of 1688. Printed initially on two separate sheets, the present example has been carefully joined to form a wonderful unified image. The map is beautifully preserved in its uncoloured state, as originally intended. Artistically, it is a masterpiece of late Baroque engraving. Its title cartouche, featuring scenes of gods blessing this era of European expansion evinces the sumptuous style of Coronelli's Venice. Finely engraved scenes of native Americans and real or imagined beasts adorn the land and seas.

Apart from displaying a fine aesthetic sense, Coronelli has rendered the continent with far greater geographical detail than his contemporaries, having benefited enormously from his favour at the French court and his publishing partnership with Paris cartographer Jean-Baptiste Nolin. The Great Lakes are drawn with unrivalled accuracy, drawing on information gleaned in 1673 by the Quebecois explorer Louis Jolliet, and his traveling companion, the French-born Jesuit Jacques Marquette. The Mississippi basin is rendered with great detail, reflecting French discoveries, most notably those by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle on his first expedition of 1679-82. This map depicts La Salle's dramatic misplacement of the mouth of the Mississippi 600 miles to the west of its true location. Importantly, it is on the western portion of the map where Coronelli has added the most significant amount of new information, drawn mostly from a highly important manuscript map by Diego Dionisio de Peñalosa Briceño y Berdugo, which included numerous previously unrecorded place names and divided the Rio Grande into the Rio Norte and the Rio Bravo in the south. The manuscript map was probably originally prepared by Peñalosa between 1671 and 1687 as part of his attempts to interest the French King Louis XIV in his plans to mount a military expedition against New Spain. The most prominent geographical detail of the map is California's appearance as a massive island, this map being one of the best renderings of this beloved misconception. The precise geographical details are enlivened by the presence of numerous captions noting discoveries or details of the terrain.

Burden, The Mapping of North America II, 643; Burden, Mapping the West, pp.43-47; Cumming,The Exploration of North America, p.148; Leighly, California as an Island, 88; Martin & Martin, Maps of Texas and the Southwest , p.87; McLaughlin, California as an Island, 103; Portinaro & Knirsch, The Cartography of North America, pl.CII; Phillips, A List of Maps of America, p. 795; Shirley, The Mapping of the World, 548; Tooley, The Mapping of America p.125; Cf. Tooley, Maps & Map-Makers (1979 ed.), p. 21; Wheat, Mapping the Transmississippi West I, 70

#18543$22,000.00
 
 Results Page: (total 8 pages)
  1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8    [>> Next page]  
Copyright © 2002-2010 Donald A. Heald