Newly acquired maps or maps of particular interest

One of the greatest maps of North and South America ever produced, this fascinating woodcut map was first issued by Munster in his Geographia in 1540. Amongst it most salient points:

• This is the first printed map to depict North and South America as separate continents. Prior to this, maps showed discovered parts of North America either as a number separate islands or as connected to Asia. With the publication of Munster's map, North and South America were finally clearly shown as a separate and connected land mass.
• It contains one of the earliest and most obvious depictions of the false sea of Verrazano. In 1523-4, Verrazano sailed from Florida up the east coast to Newfoundland in the service of Francis I of France, thus becoming the first person to show definitely that the land discovered in the south by the Spanish was connected with the land discovered by the English in the north. Verrazano's voyage was a search for a route to the riches of the Orient, for Europeans thought that there must be an easy passage to the Pacific in the area. With this unfounded assumption firmly in mind, Verrazano jumped to the conclusion that he had spotted the Pacific Ocean when he saw a large body of water across a narrow bit of land north of Florida. What he had in fact seen was Pamlico Sound across the Outer Banks of North Carolina, but his statement that he had seen the Pacific across a narrow isthmus was accepted as fact in Europe, and the 'false sea of Verrazano' thus began to appear on maps of the New World, nowhere more graphically than here. It is interesting to note that it was depictions like that in Munster's map, which enjoyed wide circulation, that spread the idea of a passage to the east in the area of North America, which in turn was one of the major impetuses in the further exploration and eventual settlement of North America.
• Other bits of information from early voyages are nicely illustrated, including the recent voyage around the world by Magellan. Not only is the Strait of Magellan, "Fretum Magaliani," shown, as are the Marianas, Magellan's 'Isles of Thieves,' but Magellan's ship, the Victoria, is seen sailing in the Pacific. The explorations in the northeast of North America are evidenced by the name "Fancisca," as well as the correct depiction of Newfoundland, "Cortereal," as a single large island. Even Marco Polo's adventures in the orient are represented, with Japan in an archipelago consisting of exactly 7,448 islands, a 'fact' recorded by Marco Polo. The narrowness of the Pacific Ocean, which causes Japan to appear very close to the western coast of North America, is caused by the ancient belief that the earth was about 2/3rds its actual circumference.
• Other points of interest include the representation of the Yucatan Peninsula as an island, and the depiction of the lake upon which Temistitan, modern Mexico City, was built, as emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. In South America a wonderful vignette shows the existence of cannibals in a rather graphic fashion. The Spanish Flag is seen flying over the West Indies, while the Portuguese Flag is shown off the Brazilian coast, reflecting the Papal division of the New World between the two countries.

Girolamo Ruscelli. "Septenirionalium [sic] Partium Nova Tabula." Venice: Giordano Ziletti, [1561]-1574. Second plate. 6 3/4 x 9 3/8. Engraving. Good impression. Very good condition. Italian text on verso. Burden: 45.

A fine example of the "Zeno map," one of the most interesting maps from the sixteenth century. The area depicted is the northern Atlantic extending from Scandinavia to Greenland. The map is based upon the alleged explorations of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, whose journal was published by their descendant Nicolo Zeno in 1558. The voyage was supposed to have taken place in 1380, with the Zeno brothers going to the islands of Frisland, Greenland and Icaria. On their travels, they heard of lands one thousand miles to the west; Estotiland and Drogio. These latter lands the Zenos did not visit themselves, but they heard fishermen's tales which included descriptions of natives sounding much like American Indians and of visits by other Europeans. This journal is now generally accepted as a fabrication, but many have tried to fit the Zeno account to actual geography. Whatever its history, the account and its accompanying map were very influential on the mapping of the North Atlantic.

Ruscelli's map is based directly on the map issued with the original journal, and it is the first obtainable version of the Zeno geography. The non-existent islands of Frisland and Icaria are shown just below Iceland, and further south are Estotiland and Deogeo. These latter are drawn running to the edge of the amp, indicating that they might be part of the North American continent. If the Zeno travels have a basis in fact, these lands may reflect reports of early exploration of the New World. Whatever its link to reality, this is a graphic image of Renaissance cartography and legend; a truly fabulous map. (Nordenskiold; p. 52ff.) $975

Thomas Holme. "A Mapp of Ye Improved Part of Pensilvania in America, Divided into Countyes Townships and Lotts." With inset map: "The City Philadelphia two Miles in Length and one in Breadth." London: Thomas Jefferys. [1687]-ca. 1749. 21 1/4 x 15 3/4. Engraving. Some small spots of old surface wear. Expertly conserved and lined. Very good condition. Burden: 669; Stevens & Tree: 68; Winterthur Portfolio 6: p. 45.

When William Penn received a grant from Charles II for the 45,000 square miles of land now called Pennsylvania, he was the recipient of huge potential wealth. For this wealth to be realized, Penn had to sell parcels of his land to new settlers. Not only would this raise cash, but it would increase the value of the land that remained in Penn's hands. Like any savvy developer, Penn used various means to publicize the sale of property in his grant. One of the most effective was a printed promotional brochure which included a map of the projected town of Philadelphia, the "City of Brotherly Love." Penn envisioned his town as a mile wide band extending two miles from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River. Penn had his surveyor general, Thomas Holme, make up a plan for the town, which Holme did with a simple, yet elegant grid of streets enhanced by the regular placement of five parks. Once the map of the city of Philadelphia was completed, Holmes set out to produce a map of the territory west of the city. The resulting large, seven sheet wall map, encompassed southeastern Pennsylvania from Bucks County to New Castle County, and included the original grid plan for Philadelphia. This impressive cartographic document was published in 1687.

Within a few years, and almost certainly before 1699, Holme produced a reduced version of this map intended to be more practical for general use. One third the size of the original, the smaller map lacks the printed description at the bottom and shows minor changes in property ownership. William Penn's goal was for his colony, both in the city and in the country, to become thoroughly developed. Toward that end, Penn made it so that purchasing land in the country automatically entitled the landowner to several lots in the city. Showing both Philadelphia and its surrounding environs, this map would have been of great use to these early Pennsylvania landowners. This is the third state of the smaller version of the Holme map, probably after Thomas Jefferys acquired the plate. It is not only historically informative and very rare, but is also one of the earliest available printed map of Philadelphia and bordering counties. $40,000

Albert Gallatin. "Map of the Indian Tribes of North America about 1600 A.D. along the Atlantic; & about 1800 A.D. westwardly." Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1836. From Archaeologia Americana. 15 x 16 1/2. Lithograph by Pendleton. Original hand color. With folds as issued. Narrow margin where attached, top right. Very good condition. Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 255; Wheat: 417. Denver.

An important and scarce map of North America, a thematic map showing the Indian tribes of the continent drawn by Albert Gallatin, a prominent American statesman and financier who served as the Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson. Gallatin became enraptured by American ethnology during Alexander von Humboldt's 1804 visit with Jefferson. These two men of great stature soon became friends and correspondents and much of Gallatin's ethnological information came by way of Humboldt. After this visit, Gallatin began over thirty years of rigorous, ethnological study that resulted in the 1836 publication of his Synopsis of the Indian Tribes. This seminal work provided the foundation for all subsequent study on the subject and earned Gallatin the title "father of American Ethnology." Gallatin classified eighty-one tribes into twenty eight families, and eight large language groups. This map was issued to accompany Gallatin's Synopsis and it illustrates his Indian language regions, as well as the locations of smaller tribal groups. Those tribes in the east are indicated as they were about 1600, but those Indians in the west are indicated for about 1800. It was the first serious ethnological map of North America, a landmark for the subject.

Besides this scientific interest, the map has very good geographic information, being the best map of the American West for the time. The map was one of the first to mark the explorations of Jedediah Smith (1826-1827), which for the first time helped delineate the Great Basin (called here "Great Sandy Desert"). As Carl Wheat states, "Gallatin's map with its showing of Smith's route to California was an achievement, as important for the imaginary geography which its author wisely eschewed as for the items he included." Rare and historically of the first importance. $1,850
Go to page with other maps showing locations of Indian tribes

Benjamin L.E. Bonneville. "A Map of the Sources of the Colorado & Big Salt Lake, Platte, Yellow-Stone, Muscle-Shell, Missouri; & Salmon & Snake Rivers, branches of the Columbia River." From Washington Irving's The Adventures of Captain Bonneville. Philadelphia, 1837. 16 1/2 x 15 1/4. Engraving by S. Stiles. Trimmed to neat line in lower right, as issued. Excellent condition. Wagner & Camp: 67:3; Wheat: 423. Denver.

A landmark map of headwaters of many of the major rivers of the American West, an area at the intersection of Wyoming, Utah and Montana. From 1832 to 1835, Bonneville explored the northern parts of the American West, proceeding up the Platte River and for the first time crossing the South Pass with wagons, thus establishing the route for the thousands of emigrants who were soon to follow his path on the Oregon Trail. His expedition explored this region of the Rockies, including the Green, Snake and Columbia Rivers, the Great Salt Lake, and what would later become the California Trail across the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In the area explored extensively by Bonneville were the sources of many of the great rivers of the west, including the Colorado, Missouri, Yellowstone, Snake, and Salmon. This map shows those sources carefully located among the complex mountain ranges of the region. Bonneville drew the map based on his explorations and it was a huge improvement on any rendering previously done. Carl Wheat says of it is "an excellent map, by far the best yet published of this region - a map of real import." It was published in Washington Irving's The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, based on Bonneville's notes and manuscript maps, which Irving purchased from Bonneville for $1,000. It is a landmark map of the American West. $1,100

John Halsall. "Sectional Map of the Territory of Kansas. Compiled from the Field Notes in the Surveyor General's Office." New York: J.H. Colton, 1857. Copyright, 1856. Separately issued, pocket map printed on banknote paper and folded into original covers. 27 1/2 x 21 1/2. Lithograph. Original hand color. Some light discoloration at folds. Very good condition. Denver.

A rare, pocket map of "Bleeding Kansas," a primary historic artifact map intended to bring anti-slavery settlers to the territory. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the Kansas Territory with the provision that the issue of whether it would be slave or free was to be decided by "popular sovereignty." This meant that in the years that followed, each side of this conflict tried to flood the territory with their proponents; this map was intended to be sold on the east coast to attract anti-slavery emigrants.

This map was drawn by John Halsall from the best available maps, those of the General Land Office's Surveyor General. Indeed, in the lower right corner of the map is a box with the following text: "The above Map is correct, So far as the field notes have been reported to this Office Surveyor General's Office 1856. Robert L. Ream, Chief Clerk, Surveyor Gen'ls. Office." The map shows the eastern part of Kansas, as far west as the Principal Meridian. Counties are shown and named and the extent of the GLO's survey is indicated with township lines. Indian lands and reservations are also noted, and all the towns, forts, rivers, and roads are indicated clearly. This map was issued both by its author, John Halsall, in St. Louis and J.H. Colton in New York. $2,100

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