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Other map pages: [ Locations | Map themes & related | Cartographers ]
Herman Moll. "A Map of Mexico or New Spain Florida now called Louisiana and Part of California &c." From Atlas Geographus: or; A Compleat System of Geography, (Ancient and Modern) For America. London: John Nicholson, 1717. 7 x 10. Very good condition. Framed.
The map is by Herman Moll, who was a Dutch emigré to England after 1680. Moll soon established his own business and became England's most prominent map publisher, his prolific output covered a wide range from loose maps to atlases. His work was highly regarded and often copied due to the quality of detail found in his maps. This map shows North America from just north of the 35th parallel and extends south to encompass all of Central America. Moll includes much detail of settlements and Indian tribes. This area was mostly controlled by the Spanish or French, though a large "Carolina" is shown with "Charles Towne" indicated. $625
John Senex. "A New Map of the English Empire in America..." London: J. Senex, 1721. 19 3/4 x 23 3/8. Engraving by J. Harris. Original outline color. A few age spots. Strong strike. Overall, very good condition.
A wonderful map of the English colonies in North America covering from the east coast to the Mississippi. Issued in Senex's 1721 Atlas, this was a "revised" version of the famous Morden-Browne map of about 1695, printed by Senex with a few modifications, including a new dedication. The map depicts as comprehensive a look at the British colonies as was available in the early 18th century. The borders of the different grants, rivers, and many early towns are indicated from Nova Scotia to Carolina, which is shown extending down to the Florida peninsula. No western border is indicated, though the "Apalitean mountains" form a natural border.
While the colonies are well mapped, the map contains much curious and unusual geography for the middle of the continent. It contains a most unusual configuration for the Great Lakes; Lake Erie narrows to a fraction of its full width in the middle, and Georgian Bay forms a long, spike-like heel off Lake Huron. The Mississippi River is relatively accurately drawn running up the middle of the continent, but there is no Ohio River extending into Pennsylvania from the west. This is because the river that is probably meant to represent the Ohio is blocked by a curious mountain range that runs from the tip of the Michigan peninsula down all the way to Florida, with one branch mid-way down running westward towards the Mississippi, and the "Apalitean" range running off to the northeast. This mountain range was originally introduced by Morden-Brown. It is clearly an outgrowth of the Appalachian Range, but incorrectly drawn so that the mountains extend down into Florida, west to the Mississippi and north into the Michigan peninsula. The western branch may be a remnant of the range of mountains across the continent that appeared on the Chiaves map based on reports from the de Soto expedition. The branch into Michigan is further of interest because of the legend along side that says "On the top of these mountains is a Plaine like a Terras Walk aboue 200 miles in length." This range and its terrace walk have no known source, but it had great influence. The connection of the Michigan chain with the Appalachian range was soon severed, but vestiges of the mountains in the peninsula appeared on maps even into the nineteenth century. In the bottom right corner is an inset map showing the American continent in relation to Europe and Africa, and just above is a smaller inset plan of Boston Harbor. $3,200
Guillaume Delisle. "Carte Du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France." Amsterdam: Jean Covens & Corneille Mortier, ca. 1730. 19 1/8 x 22 1/2. Engraving. Hand color. Some paper toning and mottling. Otherwise, very good condition.
An attractively colored example of Delisle's famous map of the Great Lakes and Canada. The map was first issued in 1703, and this example was issued not too long after in Amsterdam. This map is a important example of Delisle's work, seminal in the history of the mapping of America exactly because of his pioneering method and attitude. It was based on years of research, using all the latest reports of travels, explorations and surveys in the region. Delisle was particularly well placed with respect to gathering information on North America, for with his connections in the French court, especially within the Ministry of Marine, he had access to all the official and unofficial reports coming out of New France. It is not surprising, then, given Delisle's method and connections, that this map is so important in the cartographic history of the continent. The depiction of the Great Lakes is a landmark in the history of their mapping, superior to the previous renderings by Sanson and Coronelli. This map is a "mother map" of both Canada and the Great Lakes. Such was its importance that it continued to be published for the rest of the century. The wonderful baroque title cartouche adds a final flourish to the map, showing natives, flora and fauna, and explorers of the New World. $1,200
Jacques Nicolas Bellin. "Carte Des Lacs Du Canada." From Charlevoix's Journal D'un Voyage Fair Par Ordre Du Roi dans L'Amerique Septentrionnale. Paris: Nyon Fils, 1744. 11 1/4 x 17 3/8. Engraving. Very good condition.
From about 1650 to 1750, the French dominated the cartographic world, with their fine, scientifically based maps. These maps were particularly outstanding for the interior of North America. This vast, forested region was explored throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by French trappers, traders and missionaries. The information from their explorations was relayed back to Paris, where it was used by French cartographers to compile the finest maps of the region produced to that time. Nicolas Bellin (1703-72), Hydrographer to the King of France, was one of the best French cartographers of the later period. He is especially noted for his influential series of maps of the Great Lakes, of which this is the first. This map is based on manuscript maps in the French marine archives, in particular those by Chaussegros de Lerys, and it gives the first new information on New France since Delisle's seminal work at the beginning of the century. Despite this, however, the map is renowned for its many geographic errors, including a south-easterly slanted Lake Michigan. The map is especially notorious for the introduction of two non-existent islands in Lake Superior. These islands were "Isle Pontchartrain" and "Isle Philippeaux," the latter of which is shown almost as big as the near-by Isle Royale. These mythical islands were quickly copied by other cartographers and appeared on most maps of North America for the next century.
These islands were named in honor of Jean Frederic Phelippeaux, Comte de Maurepas, Minister of the French Marine from 1723 to 1749 and patron to Charlevoix, and whose patron saint was Anne. Isle Ponchartrain was named for his father, Jerome Phellipeaux, Comte de Ponchartrain, a former minister. It is also possible that Ste. Anne was named after Louis Charley Saint-Ange, who helped to finance Le Ronde's activities. Bellin has often been criticized for adding these non-existent islands for the purpose of flattering his superior. However, recent research indicates that the islands were derived from the first-hand reports of Louis Denys de la Ronde, a fur trapper whose base was located on Lake Superior. It seems that la Ronde derived his belief in these islands from Indian reports that he misinterpreted. However, whatever their origin, the mythical islands first shown by Bellin continued to appear on maps for about 100 years. Isle Philippeaux was even used as a landmark in the 1783 Treaty of Paris that established the border between the British domains and the United States. This is a fine example of the first edition of Bellin's notorious map. $3,500
Emanuel Bowen after Henry Popple. "A New & Accurate Map of the Provinces of North & South Carolina Georgia &c. Drawn from late Surveys and regulated by Astron Observat. By Eman. Bowen." From A Complete System of Geography. London: E. Bowen, 1747. Engraving. 13 5/8 x 16 3/4. Very good condition.
Emanuel Bowen was a map engraver, printer and publisher in London in the mid-eighteenth century. He achieved considerable success in this field, being appointed as engraver to both Louis XV of France and George II of Britain, and later as Geographer to the latter. He produced some of the most interesting maps of his time. Despite his royal appointments and apparent success, Bowen died in poverty in 1767. Through all the vicissitudes of his life, however, Emanuel Bowen's maps continued at a very high level of quality, as is exampled in this nicely detailed map of the "Provinces" of North and South Carolina and Georgia. This map is a reduced version of the southeastern sheet from Henry Popple's important map of North America (1733). It extends from the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to St. Augustine, and stopping just short of Mobile Bay in the west. The detail is most impressive, with rivers, European and Native American settlements, and an indication of the Appalachian Mountains. In what would become Tennessee is a note of the "Charokee Indians." A rare and interesting map of the southeastern part of the British colonies from just before the French & Indian War. $1,350
Emanuel Bowen. "A New Map of Georgia with Part of Carolina, Florida and Louisiana." From John Harris' Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. London, 1748. 14 1/4 x 18 3/4. Engraving. Very good condition. Cummings: 267.
This map is the first map to focus just on the colony of Georgia, extending from the Atlantic seaboard to the Mississippi River (actually Bowen has the "G" of "Georgia" on the west side of the Mississippi, implying that the colony extended even further). This map was included in John Harris' Voyages which was first issued in 1705. In the 1744-48 edition of this multi-volume work, Harris added a chapter on the history of Georgia and this map was included as part of that chapter. The map is wonderfully work, with copious accurate information. Towns and forts along the Carolina, Georgia, and Florida Atlantic coasts are shown, as are the few settlements in Mobile Bay and along the Mississippi River. The interior of the colony is mostly taken up with Indian tribes and towns, and the very early trading routes are indicated. This is a seminal map of the American southeast, both attractive and fascinating. $5,250
Gilles Robert de Vaugondy. "Partie De L'Amerique Septentrionale, qui comprend Le Cours De L'Ohio, La N'lle Angleterre, La N'lle York, Le New Jersey, La Pensylvanie, Le Maryland La Virginie, La Caroline." Paris: G. Robert de Vaugondy, 1755. 18 3/4 x 24 1/2. Engraving by C. Haussard. Original outline color in map and later color added to cartouche. Very good condition. Pedley: 469, State 1.
An attractive example of Gilles Robert de Vaugondy's map of the British colonies, which was based upon John Mitchell's great map of North America from the same year. As such, it took information from Lewis Evans on the middle British Colonies and Joshua Fry's and Peter Jefferson's map of Virginia and Maryland. The Mitchell map resulted from many years of British surveying in the colonies of North America, and it represented the best information about the continent that was available to Europeans and Americans in the mid-eighteenth century. Robert de Vaugondy's map does not cover the entire area shown in Mitchell's map, but rather focuses on the British colonies, extending from southern Maine to the Carolinas, with an inset of South Carolina and Georgia added in the upper left corner. Dense detail is neatly engraved for the river systems and settlements along the eastern coast and well inland. The mapping of the trans-Allegheny regions “showing the Ohio River, Kentucky, Tennessee, and parts of Ohio" and of the inland areas to the southeast of the Great Lakes and in interior New England is of particular interest, for this shows some of the earliest accurate information of these regions. The dotted lines and outline color designate pre-Treaty of Paris (1763) information about the Ohio country. A rococo title cartouche in the lower right adds a fine decorative touch to this historic document. $1,850
Jacques Nicolas Bellin. "Carte de la Caroline et Georgie." Paris, 1757. 7 1/2 x 11 1/4. Engraving. Hand color. Very good condition.
Nicolas Bellin was the Hydrographer to the King of France. From about 1650 to 1750, the French dominated the cartographic world, with their fine, scientifically based maps, elegantly engraved and precisely detailed. Bellin (1703-72) was one of the best in the later period. This map shows the American southeast from southern Virginia to northern Florida. Information includes rivers, lakes, and orographic detail. Especially interesting is the detail of early forts and settlements, both European and Native American. As is to be expected from a hydrographer, coastal and riparian detail is especially copious. A nice mid-eighteenth century map of the region. $525
Jacques Nicolas Bellin. "Carte de la Louisiane, et Pays Voisins." From Prevost d'Exiles' Histoire Generale des Voiages. Paris: Chez Didot, 1761. Engraving. 8 5/8 x 11 7/8. Very good condition
From about 1650 to the middle of the eighteenth century, the French dominated the cartographic world, with their fine, scientifically based maps. These maps were particularly outstanding and significant for the northern interior of North America. This vast, forested region was explored throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by French trappers, traders and missionaries. The information from their explorations was relayed back to Paris, where it was used by the great French cartographers to compile the finest maps of the region produced to that time.
Nicolas Bellin (1703-72), Hydrographer to the King of France, was one of the best French cartographers of the later period. His maps of North America were detailed and generally contained the latest information available. This map is somewhat anachronistic, for about the same time the British were beginning to come out with maps based on their surveys of the interior of the continent, but this map does present the French understanding of their American possessions just before they lost vast territories to the British in the French & Indian War, during which it was issued. It can be seen as a cartographic statement of French claims to the vast middle of the continent, extending from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Appalachians to the Rocky Mountains. Bellin notes all major river systems, especially the Mississippi system upon which their claims rested, and many of the French forts, including Detroit, Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh), Fort de la Presque Isle (Erie), Sandoske, and Fort "Checagou." This is a wonderful document from the period. $675
Jacques Nicolas Bellin. "Carte Des Lacs Du Canada." From Prevost d'Exiles' Histoire Generale des Voiages. Paris: Chez Didot, 1761. 7 5/8 x 11 3/8. Engraving. Very good condition.
Another excellent map by Bellin, this one his regional map of the Great Lakes. As discussed above, it was Bellin's rendering of this area which created one of the most enduring myths of American cartography. $525
Go to page two of 18th century American regional maps
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