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Maps > North America (578 items)
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 [HENNEPIN, Louis]
Tabula Exhibens Novam Franciam et Louisianam
[Nuremberg: 1689]. Engraved map, 7¾ x 12¾ inches. Near fine. Matted and laid into a black cloth box, with black morocco lettering piece.
An extremely rare German edition of Father Louis Hennepin's landmark map of North America, a foundation for the mapping of Louisiana, the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.
This version of the map was issued with the 1689 Nuremberg edition of Hennepin's work, and the cartouche translated from French into Latin. As in the original, the German map shows the significant new details of the upper headwaters of the Mississippi. By removing the extraneous European continent, the German map focuses solely on North America and even tends to magnify the Great Lakes region. Hennepin's map is the first to use the name Louisiana, and the Atlantic Ocean is called Mare Canadense. "[It shows] for the first time La Louisiane, Sault de St. Antoine de Padou (on the site of present-day Minneapolis), and Lac de Pleurs [Lake of Tears], present Lake Pepin. A faint dotted line indicating the surmised course of the lower Mississippi River is approximately located" (Schwartz & Ehrenberg). This line is of particular note. As Wheat points out, La Salle and later French cartographers recorded the course of the river as progressing further west, making Hennepin's map remarkably accurate in this regard for its time. As a significant version of one of the best cartographical depictions to that date of the Great Lakes region and the upper Mississippi, it is surprising that this German edition of Hennepin's map has been overlooked by most carto-bibliographers. "An important cartographic stepping stone...[presenting] vast new knowledge" (Wheat).
(For the 1683 edition of the map): Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p.130; Wheat 62. (For the 1689 text and map): European Americana 689/94; Howes H415; JCB (4):207; Harrisse (NF) 163; Sabin 31364.
#8671 $35,000.00  
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 HILLS, John (fl. 1777-1816) and William FADEN (1750-1836)
A Plan of the Surprise of Stoney Point, by a Detachment of the American Army, commanded by Brigr. Genl. Wayne, on 15th July, 1779. Also of the Works erected on Verplanks Point, for the Defence of Kings Ferry, by the British Forces in July, 1779, from the Surveys of Wm. Simpson Lt. 17th Rt. and D. Campbell Lt. 42d Rt. by John Hills Lt. 23d Regt. & Asst. Engr.
London: printed for Wm. Faden, March 1st 1784. Hand-coloured copper-engraved map. Sheet size: 21 x 28 1/2 inches. Some soiling and repaired tears to old fold.
"This splendid battle plan is the only battle plan of this engagement published" (Nebenzahl), it recalls the action in which the American forces, led by "Mad Anthony" Wayne recaptured the strategically important fortification at Stony Point on the Hudson. Wayne's laconic message sent immediately after the battle, reported to Washington that "The fort and garrison, with Col. Johnson, are ours. The men behaved like men determined to be free."
"In late May, 1779, British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton sent a force of about 8,000 men up the North (or Hudson) River with the intention of drawing General George Washington's Continental Army out of its lair at West Point. By June 1st Crown forces had occupied and begun fortifying Stony Point, New York on the west side of the river and Verplanck's Point on the east side. This move effectively closed King's Ferry, a major river crossing at that narrow point in the river, about 10 miles south of West Point and 35 miles north of New York City.
Stony Point was garrisoned with elements of the 17th Regiment of Foot under the command of Lt. Col. Henry Johnson. The 17th was reinforced there by the grenadier company of the 71st Highland Regiment, a company of the Loyal American Regiment, and a detachment of the Royal Artillery with nine cannon, four mortars and one eight-inch howitzer. A Royal Navy gunboat was assigned to protect the river approaches to the fortifications, and the sloop Vulture was also on patrol in that part of the river.
Washington observed construction of the fortifications through a telescope from atop nearby Buckberg Mountain ... [and] used intelligence gathered from local merchants ... During this time he formulated a plan of attack and selected a commander to lead it: Major General Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania.
The British position at Stony Point was a fortified one, but it was never intended to be a true fort in the 18th century European sense of the word. No stone was used and no walls were constructed. The defenses consisted of earthen fleches (cannon positions) and wooden abatis (felled trees sharpened to a point and placed in earthen embankments).
Washington's plan called for a two-pronged, pincer-type, nighttime attack on the fortifications to be carried out by 1,200 men of his Corps of Light Infantry. According to 18th century military doctrine, this was not enough men to take a well-prepared defensive position, but in addition to the element of surprise, Washington's plan exploited a fatal flaw in the fortifications. British engineers had extended the wooden abatis 50 yards into the river in order to prevent attackers from approaching along a narrow beach at the base of the point, but low tide in the river meant men could wade around the end of the abatis.
Washington gave Wayne his orders, along with permission to alter the plan if necessary. This was an unusual act for Washington, and indicates the high opinion he had of Wayne's tactical abilities. The assault would be difficult: it would be carried out in the dead of night, it called for the men to scale the steep, rocky sides of Stony Point, and it required absolute surprise. To accomplish this last aim Washington ordered that the men attack with bayonets only in order to prevent a musket blast from alerting British sentries. Despite the difficulty of the plan, Wayne made only one change. He decided to use a small force to approach the fortifications from the landward side - exactly where the British expected an attack to come from. This group was permitted to load their muskets and to keep up a fire 'sufficient to amuse the enemy' as a diversionary tactic. Wayne selected Col. Richard Butler to lead the northern column, Maj. Hardy Murfree to lead the diversionary attack on the British center, and Wayne himself would lead the southern column.
At nightfall on July 15, 1779, Wayne and his men marched south from West Point in three columns. The civilians they met along their march were taken into custody to prevent them from warning the British. The three columns rendezvoused at about 10:00 p.m. at a farm just a few miles from the fortifications. The men were given a rum ration and their orders. They were also given pieces of white paper to pin to their hats in order to help them tell each other from the British in the darkness. The three columns then moved out to begin the attack.
Bad weather that night aided the Continentals. Cloud cover cut off moonlight and high winds forced the British ships in Haverstraw Bay to leave their posts off Stony Point and move downriver. At midnight, just as scheduled, the attack began. Murfree's center column was spotted by British sentries and fired upon. Wayne's column was discovered by the light of the muzzle blast of a cannon firing at Murfree's men, but by that time it was too late to turn the cannon: Wayne's men had succeeded in getting inside the British first line of defenses. Wayne himself was struck in the head by a spent musket ball and fell to the ground, leaving Col. Christian Febiger to take over command of Wayne's column. Meanwhile, Butler's men had succeeded in cutting their way through the abatis, although they sustained the only loss of life on the American side while doing so.
The first man into the British upper works was Lt. Col. Francois de Fleury, a French nobleman serving on Wayne's staff. He was followed by Americans named Knox, Baker and Dunlop all of whom earned cash prizes for their accomplishment. As the men hauled down the British colors, they called out 'The fort's our own!': the prearranged password telling their comrades the battle was won. The battle had lasted less than an hour, yet it proved to be the major engagement of 1779, and one of the last major battles of the War in the Northern Theater.
Wayne's losses were only 15 killed and 83 wounded. 546 prisoners were taken, 74 of whom were wounded. Some Patriot sources stated that there were 63 British dead but military historian Mark M. Boatner describes this claim as "obviously false" and accepts the official British report of 20 killed.
Before dawn, Wayne sent a brief dispatch telling Washington that 'The fort and garrison, with Col. Johnson, are ours. The men behaved like men determined to be free.' The next day Washington rode into the works to inspect the battlefield and congratulate the troops. For his exploits, Wayne was awarded a medal by Congress, one of the few issued during the Revolution." (Wikipedia).
Cf. Cumming British Maps of Colonial America p.68 & fig.34; Nebenzahl Atlas of the American Revolution p.131 & map 32; Nebenzahl A Bibliography of Printed Battle Plans of the American Revolution 1775-1795 #145.
#20636$15,000.00
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 HILLS, John (fl. 1777-1816)
This Plan of the City of Philadelphia and its Environs, Shewing the Improved Parts, is Dedicated to the Mayor, Aldermen and Citizens thereof.
London: published by John & Josiah Boydell, 1 January 1798. Copper-engraved map by John Cooke, printed on a single elephant folio sheet of paper (watermarked "James Whatman Turkey Mill Kent 1794"), with 54 numbered references. Sheet size: 27 3/4 x 38 inches. Provenance: Martin P. Snyder.
The Snyder copy of the best map of Philadelphia published during its time as the capital of the United States.
Hills was one of the most talented and prolific British surveyors working during the Revolutionary War. Serving as an ensign in the 38th, and later as a Lieutenant in the 23rd regiment. During the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777-8 and later actions in the New Jersey theatre, Hills drafted a magnificent series of manuscript battle plans, and larger regional campaign maps. After the war, Hills seems to have settled in Philadelphia. He is first listed in Biddles 1791 directory as a surveyor and draughtsman on Mulberry Street, but two extant manuscript maps located in the Philadelphia City Archives show him active in the city as early as 1788. In 1796 he drafted this impressive map, receiving the commendation of the mayor Matthew Clarkson.
To ensure the best quality of engraving and printing, it was still necessary for Hills to send his plan to London for publication. Engraved by John Cooke, the plan was published by the Boydells at the end of 1797, although it also included an imprint by Hills offering the map for sale in Philadelphia (this has led carto-bibliographers to incorrectly cite the first state as an American imprint). The large size of this plan "permitted the author to name and locate each of the dozens of wharves along the Delaware and to give the details of construction then existing in every city block to, and even beyond, the Schuylkill. The topography received equally minute treatment. Even brickyards and small ponds were identified singly" (Snyder p.204).
This is the second issue of the map (with the Boydell imprint below the neat line) which was issued very shortly after the first. Both states are very rare. Only one copy of either has appeared at auction in the last quarter century (Sothebys New York, 30 October 1990, lot 19).
Deak 211; Phillips, p. 702; cf. Phillips Descriptive List of Maps and Views of Philadelphia 175 (first issue); Snyder City of Independence 169a (this copy illustrated as Fig. 121); Wheat & Brun 471.
#21372$27,500.00
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 HOLME, Thomas. (1624 - 95)
Afteykeninge van de Stadt Philadelphia in de Provinstie van Penn-Sylvania in Americae na de Copie tot London
Amsterdam: Jacob Claus, 1684. Engraved folding map. Sheet size: 10 x 13 3/4 inches. Provenance: Martin P. Snyder.
Rare, Dutch edition of Holme’s plan of Philadelphia, and the first printed map to "depict an English colonial North American town" (Burden)
"...[A] green country town, which will never be burnt, and always be wholesome." These words, written by William Penn, were part of his directive to his commissioners and Surveyor-General, Captain Thomas Holme, and they were the basis of the plan they laid out for the city to be, Philadelphia, in 1682.
Among the earliest examples of city planning, William Penn's square grid of the city was surveyed and drafted in Philadelphia. Intended to reflect and incite orderliness and to ease the dividing of lots, the plan was also projected to thwart the destruction of fires by laying wide streets at right angles and even discourage the spread of contagious disease. (Penn had witnessed the Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666). Holme's engraved plan was first published as the frontispiece to Penn's promotional tract, " A Letter to the Committee of the Free Society of Traders in London" in 1683.
Benjamin Furly, a Quaker trader in Rotterdam and owner of 4,000 acres in Pennsylvania, represented Penn's interests on the continent. Doubtless it was through him that a Dutch edition of Penn's letter promoting his colony was promptly printed in Amsterdam. With the reprinting of the letter came a new engraved plan of the Philadelphia city grid prepared from Thomas Holme's "Portraiture". The new plan was by no means an exact copy of the original engraved in London. It contained many improvements, and was a more finished work throughout (Snyder, COI).
It is generally assumed that the Dutch version of Holme's plan is more rare due to the smaller circulation of the promotional tract. Referring to Holme's plan, Burden writes, "The printed map is the first to depict an English colonial North American town and is of considerable importance."
Set where the Schuykill and Delaware Rivers are roughly parallel, Philadelphia was designed according to rather humane ideals, and not simply to maximize profits. Large blocks and wide streets in an easily navigated grid gave individuals a sense of freedom and community, freedom from the tension induced by overcrowding. There was a large central square intended to serve as the religious and governmental heart of the city, and large accessible parks. The framework of the plan allowed for subdivision and growth. Philadelphia was the fastest growing city in Colonial America in the 18th century.
Thomas Holme was an Englishman, who fought in Ireland under Cromwell and settling there, joined the Society of Friends. A long friendship with William Penn led to his being appointed Surveyor- General of Pennsylvania.
Burden 581 (see also 557); Phillips, Descriptive List of Maps and Views of Philadelphia 145; Snyder, COI 2 (this copy illustrated as Fig. 2).
#21366$27,500.00
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 HOLME, Thomas (1624-1695).
A Mapp of Ye Improved Part of Pensilvania in America Divided into Countyes Townshipps and Lotts.
[London]: "Surveyed by Tho: Holme Sold by P. Lea at ye Atlas and Hercules in Cheapside", [ca.1688]. Copper engraving, hand-coloured in outline. Inset plan of The City of Philadelphia two miles in Length and one in Breadth at upper center. Tables of References to the Settlements of the Inhabitants of Chester and Bucks counties at upper left and right. Dedication to "William Penn Esq. Proprietor and Governor of Pennsylvania by J. Harris" at upper right. 112 numbered and lettered references in Chester County, 29 numbered references in Bucks County, 36 numbered and lettered references in Philadelphia County, and hundreds of land holders identified on the map itself. Sheet size: 20˝ x 24 inches.
Very rare: the first issue of Holme's map of Pennsylvania -- the first map of Pennsylvania. This copy a superb example with contemporary outline colour and wide margins.
Thomas Holme was appointed Surveyor General of Pennsylvania by William Penn in April 1682, the year after the colony was chartered. It was his responsibility to supervise the surveying of all tracts of land that had been sold. In May 1687, at Penn's request, he forwarded a manuscript map in London that gave a detailed portrait of the extent of settlement at that date. "This was published first as a very large and later as a smaller engraving. In both, the grid plan of the city was carefully inserted in recognition of the fact that Philadelphia was the focal point and that the city plan had strong sales value in all promotion of the province generally" (Snyder).
The manuscript survey was published as a six-sheet wall map in late 1687, of which only a handful of copies have survived. The present version, finely engraved by John Harris, was published by Philip Lea shortly thereafter. Although reduced in size from the wall map, the engraver maintained the extraordinary detail. Virtually every first purchaser is identified, either on the map itself or via the numbered and lettered references. The present copy is the rare first state of the map, issued by P. Lea sometime between 1687 and 1699 (though likely circa 1688 as the map was an integral part of William Penn's promotion of his tract). On the later states, Lea's imprint has been erased from the plate and another imprint added at the lower left on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River.
The map is the most detailed and complete for any English American colony of the seventeenth century. Penn intended the map for promotional purposes, and it shows the boundaries and names the owner of every settled tract in the colony. The plan of Philadelphia at upper center is taken from Holme's original survey map of 1682, from which the city was laid out. Holme's was the first map of Philadelphia, and in its printed form, the first obtainable for any English American city.
"Without question the finest printed cartographic document relating to North America to be published to date" (Burden).
Degrees of Latitude, 71; Burden, The Mapping of North America II: 669; Corcoran, Thomas Holme, 1624-1695 (Philadelphia: 1992); Hough, "Captain Thomas Holme" in PMHB vol. 19; Klinefelter, "Surveyor General Thomas Holme's 'Map of the Improved Part of the Province of Pennsilvania'" in Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 6; Phillips, A List of Maps of America, p. 670; Snyder, COI 7A; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, Mapping of America p.121 (first issue); Stevens & Tree, "Comparative Cartography" 68b, in Tooley, The Mapping of America; Streeter Sale 945 (first issue); Deak 72
#24882$75,000.00
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 HOLMES, John Bute
Map of the Rutger's Farm As it existed in 1784, Accurately made from reliable data
New York: 1874. Lithograph with period colour by Louis E. Neuman. Backed on linen with piping along edges, as issued. Creasing in far left and far right sections of map, mildly creased within. Property owner names written in ink in various places. Sheet size: 22 1/4 x 39 1/2 inches.
A fascinating look at one of the most valuable properties in New York City
The title is a little bit mis-leading, as this is a map of what had been Rutgers Farm but now (i.e. in 1874) being laid out for development. The Rutgers Farm Estate had been one of the largest family owned properties in Manhattan since the 17th century. Its dissolution after the Civil War was a major real estate event.
Members of the Rutgers family arrived in Manhattan in 1646, eventually establishing a brewery. The brewery led to the acquisition of farmland, tenants and slaves and resulted in a large fortune. The farm that Hendrick Rutgers left to his four children in a will written in 1784 is the subject of this very interesting New York City map. The property, a portion of which is now beneath the Manhattan Bridge, extended from Catherine Street (named after Catherine Rutgers) to Montgomery Street and from the East River to Division Street (the road that divided Rutgers and De Lancey's properties).
Hendrick Rutgers had left the family farmhouse near Chatham Square and built the Rutgers Mansion farther northeast on the property in the late 18th century. As stated or implied on the map, most of the property was passed on to his son, Col. Henry Rutgers, who became one of the greatest landowners in New York City. He never married and his property went to his nephew, William Crosby, who died in 1865. It was in 1867 that the division into lots and building of tenements began, so this map relates to recent events in the neighborhood.. The ownership of the lots has been written in some cases by hand in ink. The name Crosby (for example) is seen frequently among them.
Rutgers Farm thus became part of the teeming Lower East Side. Not far from the Five Points, this neighborhood in 1874 would have been quite poor and predominantly Irish. During the 1880's there was an influx of Italian, Eastern European and Russian Jews, Poles, Hungarians and others as the Irish spread out through the city and beyond. What had been Rutgers Farm became part of the greenhouse for the new America.
The mapmaker, John Bute Holmes, was a civil engineer and city surveyor. Based on two articles that appeared in the New York Times in 1875, his ethical competence was questionable. It was alleged that he was married to several women at once, compromised a number of others and killed a police officer in a fight over the man's wife, with whom Holmes "had been intimate". He was quite wealthy, which seems to have been the means by which he evaded the claims of justice.
Holmes made several maps of large, old New York city properties in development, 21 such maps are in the New York Public Library collection, and it is safe to assume there is a connection between these and his reputed wealth.
#13640$1,200.00
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 HOMANN HEIRS
America Septentrionalis a Domino d'Anville in Galliis edita nunc in Anglia Coloniis in Interiorem Virginiam deductis nel noc Fluvii Ohio cursu ...
Nuremburg: Homann Heirs, 1756. Copper-engraved map, period hand colouring in outline. Four columns of text at the lower right under the heading "Was die Engelaender Rectmaessiger Weise im vesten Land haben." Lengthy paragraph of text in the upper left under the heading "Eingriffe der Franzosen.". Sheet size: 20 x 24 5/8 inches.
First issue of a scarce German map of North America at the outset of the French and Indian War.
This map is a German edition of Jeffery's 1755 map titled North America from the French of Mr. D'Anville. The text in the upper left corner provides a chronology of French depradations in the region from the end of the 17th century; likewise, the text in the lower right corner provides a chronology to validate the British claims, beginning with Cabot in 1497. The Homann heirs were the inheritors of J. B. Homann's publishing firm, one of the leading cartographical houses in Germany during the 18th century. The present map would be re-issued by the firm just prior to the American Revolution, with a new date in the cartouche.
McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps 756.1; Sellers and Van Ee, Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies 68.
#25673$950.00
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 HOMANN, Johann Baptist (1663-1724)
Nova Anglia Septentrionali Americae implantata Anglorumque coloniis florentissima
Nuremberg: [Homann Heirs], [circa 1730]. Copper-engraved map, with full original colour, on an untrimmed sheet. Sheet size: 22 x 25 1/2 inches.
A fine example of one of the eighteenth-century's most decorative maps of New England and New York
This very fine map, in magnificent full original colour, focuses on New England, but embraces the entire territory from Philadelphia in the south up to the St. Lawrence Valley in the north. It depicts the region as it was considered before the British government commissioned advanced surveys of the subject. The geographic portrayal of the coast of New England is quite detailed, and features extensive hydrological information off of the coast. Curiously, however, Boston Harbor is shown to be dramatically larger than it actually was, and Cape Cod is shown to be an island. In the interior, Lake Champlain is depicted to be dramatically east of its true location, and New York's Lake Seneca is creatively shown to be a large body of water that drains into the Hudson Valley. To the north, the portrayal of New France is equally fanciful, as "Mont Royal" Island, the site of Montreal, takes on a massive, attenuated form immediately adjacent to Lake Ontario. True to Homann's artistic signature, the map features a finely-engraved cartouche in the lower right corner that depicts American scenes of commerce and nature.
One of the most celebrated cartographers of his day, Johann Baptist Homann established the most successful German publishing house of the eighteenth century. His prolific business, which was inherited by his family after his death, dominated Germany's map market for over a century, and produced some of the finest maps and atlases of the age. He established himself in Nuremberg, and by 1715 was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. After Homann's death, the business was taken over by his son, Johann Christoph. From 1730, the firm was entrusted to a committee of family members, the Homann Heirs, who published maps and atlases for the next two generations, maintaining the high standards set by Johann Baptist.
Goss, The Mapping of North America, 50; McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 724.1; Portinaro & Knirsch, The Cartography of North America 1500-1800, plate 116; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 806
#19725$2,500.00
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 HOMANN, Johann Baptist (1663-1724)
Nova Anglia Septentrionali Americae implantata Anglorumque coloniis florentissima Geographicice exhibita
Nuremberg: Joh. Baptista Homann, [1724]. Copper-engraved map, full period colouring, wide margins. In excellent condition except for some small expertly repaired tears to the margins. Sheet size: 21 1/4 x 25 1/4 inches.
An excellent copy of this fine map of New England by one of the greatest German 18th-century cartographers
This very fine map, in magnificent full original colour, focuses on New England, but embraces the entire territory from Philadelphia in the south up to the St. Lawrence Valley in the north. It depicts the region as it was considered before the British government commissioned advanced surveys of the subject. The geographic portrayal of the coast of New England is quite detailed, and features extensive hydrological information of the coast. Curiously, however, Boston Harbor is shown to be dramatically larger than its actual appearance, and Cape Cod is shown to be an island. In the interior, Lake Champlain is depicted to be dramatically east of its true location, and New York's Lake Seneca is creatively shown to be a massive sea that drains into the Hudson Valley. To the north, the portrayal of New France is equally fanciful, as "Mont Royal" Island, the site of Montreal, takes on a massive, attenuated form immediately adjacent to Lake Ontario. True to Homann's artistic signature, the map features a finely-engraved cartouche in the lower right corner that depicts American scenes of commerce and nature.
One of the most celebrated cartographers of his day, Johann Baptist Homann established the most successful German publishing house of the eighteenth century. His prolific business, which was inherited by his family after his death, dominated Germany's map market for over a century, and produced some of the finest maps and atlases of the age. He established himself in Nuremberg, and by 1715 was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. After Homann's death, the business was taken over by his son, Johann Christoph. From 1730, the firm was entrusted to committee of family members, the Homann Heirs, who published maps and atlases for the next two generations, maintaining the high standards set by Johann Baptist.
Goss. The Mapping of North America 50; Manasek 73; McCorkle. New England in Early Printed Maps, 724.1; Portinaro & Knirsch. The Cartography of North America 1500-1800 plate 116; Sellers & Van Ee. Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 806.
#18625$2,750.00
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 HOMANN, Johann Baptist (1663-1724)
Virginia, Marylandia et Carolina in America Septentrionali Britannorum industria excultae repraesentatae
Nuremberg: [circa 1715]. Copper-engraved map, full period hand-colouring. Sheet size: 19 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches.
A highly decorative and historically important map of Virginia, the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic.
This very attractive map was devised as a propaganda tool, to showcase Virginia as a land of plenty to prospective German immigrants. Homann first printed this map in 1714, including it in his Atlas Novus. That year, Alexander Spotswood, the Lt. Governor of Virginia, founded Germanna, a colony for German immigrants on the banks of the Rapidan River, identified on the map as "Germantown / Teutsche Statt". English settlers had proven reticent to migrate to the colony's interior, leaving it vulnerable to French and native encroachment. Spotswood hoped that a wave of German immigration would act as a protective bulwark for Virginia, while also making him a fortune from related property speculation. While Virginia is geographically given the place of honour in the centre of the map, the art of persuasion is principally conveyed by the large title cartouche occupying the lower right of the map. Surrounding an open scallop shell, the iconography of Utopia is presented with blazing intensity. Natives, shown as "noble savages", in the manner of Theodore De Bry, offer their wares. Well-attired Europeans are shown enjoying a realm bursting with gold, kegs of libations, fish, produce and exotic animals. An opportunity to experience such a paradise must have appealed to Homann's intended audience. Importantly, while Virginia is the focus, the map embraces a vast portion of the eastern seaboard, from South Carolina to Connecticut, and is geographically quite conservative, save for the appearance of part of an impossibly large and misplaced Lake Erie in the upper left corner, and the imaginary lake "Apalache Lacus" in the lower left.
One of the most celebrated cartographers of his day, Johann Baptist Homann established the most successful German publishing house of the eighteenth century. His prolific business, which was inherited by his family after his death, dominated Germany's map market for over a century, and produced some of the finest maps and atlases of the age. He established himself in Nuremberg, and by 1715 was appointed Geographer to the Emperor. After Homann's death, the business was taken over by his son, Johann Christoph. From 1730, the firm was entrusted to a committee of family members, the Homann Heirs, who published maps and atlases for the next two generations, maintaining the high standards set by Johann Baptist.
Cumming The Southeast in Early Maps 156; Morrison On the Map 27; Degrees of Latitude 17
#25731$2,950.00
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Copyright © 2002-2011 Donald A. Heald
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