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Maps > North America (578 items)
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 LOWE, Theodore H. and Francis F. BRUNÉ
Map of Clear Creek County, Colorado. Drawn and compiled by Theo. H. Lowe and F.F. Bruné, C.E., Idaho, Colorado, Ter.
Louisville: Hart and Mapother Lithographers, 1866. Lithographed map on six sheets unjoined, period hand-colouring in outline, three inset views (two attributed to be after Alfred E. Mathews), within an ornamental border (backed onto linen at an early date, inked library stamp on verso). Sheet size: 75 x 55 1/2 inches (if joined).
An incredible, large-scale wall map of Clear Creek County, Colorado published less than a decade after the discovery of gold in the mining district and at the very outset of the area's settlement: a significant Colorado cartographic and mining rarity.
Clear Creek County, located approximately 30 miles west of Denver, was one of the original 17 counties of Colorado Territory created in 1861. Settlement in the region, however, began in 1859 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, when prospectors settled along Clear Creek hoping to strike it rich.
The large scale of this breathtaking map, projected at two thousand feet to the inch, allows for incredible detail of the county to be shown in the earliest years of its existence. The county is divided into 32 named districts, with a large unnamed area in the southeastern corner of the region. Mountains are named and beautifully shown via soft hachuring. Towns and creeks are identified, as are the wagon roads to Denver and Central City and numerous trails through the mountain passes. The proposed route of the Pacific railroad is clearly shown following the course of Clear Creek though Idaho to George Town, then back along Clear Creek and through Berthoud Pass to the northwest. Larger ranches are named (particularly in the more remote areas), and several businesses, including hotels, groceries and even a bathhouse, are located. The detail on the map, however, is most evident respecting the county's mining resources, with over 125 individual lodes located and named, plus over 25 quartz mills and several saw mills in addition. Most of the lodes are closely congregated along the Clear Creek west of the town of Idaho.
At each of the lower corners of the map are inset views attributed to be after Alfred E. Mathews based on the style and the presence of similar images in his 1866 Pencil Sketches of Colorado. In the lower right corner is a view of Idaho Springs, titled "Idaho The County Seat of the Clear Creek County / Taken from the Illinois Bar" (the county seat moving to Georgetown the year following this map); plate 12 of Pencil Sketches includes a similar view of the town, though from a vantage point south of the town rather than east as in the present view. In the lower left corner is a view of the region north of the town of Empire, titled "Upper Empire and Silver Mountain"; while this view did not appear in Pencil Sketches, Matthews did depict the town of Empire nearby (Pencil Sketches, plate 13). The third inset is an untitled cross-section view of the interior of a working mine, showing a shaft with an adit. A key, located to the left of the mining view, identifies the symbols used on the map and below the key is a listing of the county's mountains with elevations above Denver, with their respective elevations given.
Theodore H. Lowe and Francis F. Bruné came to Colorado during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush of 1859. It is assumed that both were trained surveyors, and Lowe seems to have been employed for a time by the U.S. Geological Survey. A printed note in the upper left corner of the decorative cartouche confirms that Lowe and Bruné compiled this impressive map from actual "instrumental surveys" in 1865. Lowe would be commissioned a deputy mineral surveyor in Colorado Springs in 1872, with Brune receiving the same commission in Leadville in 1878. The 1879 Leadville directory lists Bruné as the City Engineer.
Lowe's contribution to the development of mining in the region is noted in Frank Hall's early history of the state. "The first discoverer of gold in this region [i.e. Cripple Creek in El Paso County], and also the first to develop the vein formation, was Theodore H. Lowe, a noted mining engineer and surveyor. In October, 1881, ten years prior to any settlement at Cripple Creek, while subdividing some pastoral lands for his uncle, William W. Womack, of Kentucky, in the western part of El Paso county, Mr. Lowe found a detached block of what appeared to be float quartz. Breaking off a fragment, he took it to Prof. E. E. Burlingame, the leading assayer of Denver, for analysis, and in due time received a certificate stating that it contained at the rate of $166.23 gold per ton. Encouraged by this result, he returned to the spot and began searching for the outcrop of the vein whence the 'blossom' had been eroded, and at length found it. Locating thereon a claim called the 'Grand View,' he sunk a shaft ten feet deep, as required by law, and recorded the location in the office of the county clerk at Colorado Springs" (Hall, History of the State of Colorado, [Chicago: 1895], vol.IV, p. 102).
In 1881, Lowe would produce an additional map of the region (titled "Map of the Mining Districts surrounding the Townsite of Idaho-Springs"), this time depicting just a portion of the county but on a similar large scale and with a version of the view of Idaho from his 1866 map. (See Streeter sale 2202).
We locate but two other known copies of this very rare 1866 Clear Creek County map (Denver Public Library and University of Colorado, Boulder [copies at Bancroft and Colorado Historical Society listed by OCLC are photocopies of original) and find no copies of the map ever appearing at auction.
Not in Phillips, A List of Maps of America,
#24766 $50,000.00  
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 [MEAD, Braddock, alias John GREEN (c.1688-1757)]
A Chart of North and South America including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with the nearest coasts of Europe, Africa and Asia
London: Thomas Jefferys, 19 Feb 1753. Engraved map of the Americas, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans on 6 copper engraved sheets (each sheet approximately 22 x 29 1/2 inches, or smaller). (Old folds).
An unassembled six sheet wall map centered on the Americas accurately documenting European exploration in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans up to the mid-eighteenth century.
The six sheets cover an area from 185 degrees west to 20 degrees east, and from 60 degrees south to 82 degrees north, and would form a map of about 60 x 48 inches if joined. The map records the tracks of all the latest voyages to the Arctic and the Bering Straits, as well as the Dutch voyages to the South Pacific. Overall, the map offers a clear record of the discoveries that had been made in the area as of 1753, just before an explosion of Western activity in the Pacific and the start of the search, in earnest, for the Northwest Passage. Each of the six double-page sheets includes tables recording distances and positions, the voyages of various explorers, and additional miscellaneous notes (many referring to other maps and mapmakers). Each map is individually titled along upper margin as follows:
Sheet I: Chart containing part of the Icy Sea with the adjacent Coast of Asia and America
Sheet 2: Chart comprising Greenland with the Countries and Islands about Baffin's and Hudson's Bays
Sheet 3: Chart containing the Coasts of California, New Albion, and Russian Discoveries to the North; with the Peninsula of Kamchatka, in Asia, opposite thereto; and Islands, dispersed over the Pacific Ocean, to the North of the Line
Sheet 4: Chart of the Atlantic Ocean, with the British, French, & Spanish Settlements in North America, and the West Indies
Sheet 5: Chart containing the greater part of the South Sea to the South of the Line, with the Islands dispersed thro' the same
Sheet 6: Chart of South America, comprehending the West Indies, with the Adjacent Islands, in the Southern Ocean, and the South Sea
Jefferys, the leading British mapmaker of the mid-eighteenth century, became geographer to the Prince of Wales in 1746 and geographer to the King in 1760. He published a remarkable number of maps and charts, many of the North American continent. "The genius behind Jefferys in his shop was a brilliant man who at this time went by the alias of John Green. He made a great six-sheet map of North and South America (1753), concerning which he said, 'The English charts of America being for the general very inaccurate, I came to a resolution to publish some new ones for the use of British navigators.' In addition to his extensive cartographic abilities, Green's personal history also stands out from amongst the biographies of other 18th-century British map makers. John Green was born Braddock Mead in Ireland before 1688, married in Dublin in 1715 and around 1717 moved to London. He was imprisoned in 1728 for trying to defraud an Irish heiress. He also worked with Chambers on his Universal Dictionary. After he got out of gaol, he took the name of Green, and subsequently worked for Cave, Astley, and Jefferys. Mead 'had a number of marked characteristics as a cartographer ... One was his ability to collect, to analyze the value of, and to use a wide variety of sources; these he acknowledged scrupulously on the maps he designed and even more fully in accompanying remarks. Another outstanding characteristic was his intelligent compilation and careful evaluation of reports on latitudes and longitudes used in the construction of his maps, which he also entered in tables on the face of the maps ... Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards; in the making of maps and navigational charts he was in advance of his time. For this he deserves due credit." (Cumming).
Complete suites of the six maps are rare. In 1991, the Dupont set sold for $12,000 hammer; in 2007, the Frank Streeter set sold for $60,000. A separately-issued pamphlet on the map is seldom found together with the map, and is not included with this set. Lada-Mocarski quotes an 1899 Henry Stevens catalogue concerning the map: "We have never before met with the Remarks and Chart together. The latter is very rarely complete, as the 6 charts has a complete border and title so that they were evidently sold separately as required."
Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green..." Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America, pp.45-47; Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, 28538; Phillips, A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, 1196; Phillips, A List of Maps of America, p.109; Lada-Mocarski 10.
#25516$45,000.00
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 [MEAD, Braddock, alias John GREEN (c.1688-1757)]
A Chart of North and South America including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with the nearest coasts of Europe, Africa and Asia
London: Thomas Jefferys, 19 Feb 1753. Folio (24 x 16 1/2 inches). Engraved map of the Americas, the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans on 6 double-page copper engraved sheets, with original outline colour (each sheet 24 x 30 1/4 inches). (Bound without the letterpress colour key slip, 1" square repaired area in lower right corner of the image area of the first map sheet). Contemporary marbled-paper over pasteboard, early manuscript title lettering in ink to backstrip, modern morocco-backed cloth box, green morocco title labels to spine and upper cover.
A very fine copy of this rare and fascinating atlas designed for use by British navigators, which accurately documents European exploration in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the mid-eighteenth century.
The six sheets cover an area from 185 degrees west to 20 degrees east, and from 60 degrees south to 82 degrees north, and would form a map of about 60 x 48 inches if joined. The map records the tracks of all the latest voyages to the Arctic and the Bering Straits, as well as the Dutch voyages to the South Pacific. Overall, the map offers a clear record of the discoveries that had been made in the area as of 1753, just before an explosion of Western activity in the Pacific and the start of the search, in earnest, for the Northwest Passage. Each of the six double-page sheets includes tables recording distances and positions, the voyages of various explorers, and additional miscellaneous notes (many referring to other maps and mapmakers). Each map is individually titled along upper margin as follows:
Sheet I: Chart containing part of the Icy Sea with the adjacent Coast of Asia and America
Sheet 2: Chart comprising Greenland with the Countries and Islands about Baffin's and Hudson's Bays
Sheet 3: Chart containing the Coasts of California, New Albion, and Russian Discoveries to the North; with the Peninsula of Kamchatka, in Asia, opposite thereto; and Islands, dispersed over the Pacific Ocean, to the North of the Line
Sheet 4: Chart of the Atlantic Ocean, with the British, French, & Spanish Settlements in North America, and the West Indies
Sheet 5: Chart containing the greater part of the South Sea to the South of the Line, with the Islands dispersed thro' the same
Sheet 6: Chart of South America, comprehending the West Indies, with the Adjacent Islands, in the Southern Ocean, and the South Sea
Jefferys, the leading British mapmaker of the mid-eighteenth century, became geographer to the Prince of Wales in 1746 and geographer to the King in 1760. He published a remarkable number of maps and charts, many of the North American continent. "The genius behind Jefferys in his shop was a brilliant man who at this time went by the alias of John Green. He made a great six-sheet map of North and South America (1753), concerning which he said, 'The English charts of America being for the general very inaccurate, I came to a resolution to publish some new ones for the use of British navigators.' In addition to his extensive cartographic abilities, Green's personal history also stands out from amongst the biographies of other 18th-century British map makers. John Green was born Braddock Mead in Ireland before 1688, married in Dublin in 1715 and around 1717 moved to London. He was imprisoned in 1728 for trying to defraud an Irish heiress. He also worked with Chambers on his Universal Dictionary. After he got out of gaol, he took the name of Green, and subsequently worked for Cave, Astley, and Jefferys. Mead 'had a number of marked characteristics as a cartographer ... One was his ability to collect, to analyze the value of, and to use a wide variety of sources; these he acknowledged scrupulously on the maps he designed and even more fully in accompanying remarks. Another outstanding characteristic was his intelligent compilation and careful evaluation of reports on latitudes and longitudes used in the construction of his maps, which he also entered in tables on the face of the maps ... Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards; in the making of maps and navigational charts he was in advance of his time. For this he deserves due credit." (Cumming).
Complete suites of the six maps are rare. In 1991, the Dupont set sold for $12,000 hammer; in 2007, the Frank Streeter set sold for $60,000. A separately-issued pamphlet on the map is seldom found together with the map, and is not included with this set. Lada-Mocarski quotes an 1899 Henry Stevens catalogue concerning the map: "We have never before met with the Remarks and Chart together. The latter is very rarely complete, as the 6 charts has a complete border and title so that they were evidently sold separately as required."
Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green..." Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America, pp.45-47; Sabin, A Dictionary of Books Relating to America, 28538; Phillips, A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, 1196; Phillips, A List of Maps of America, p.109; Lada-Mocarski 10.
#17856$60,000.00
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 [MEAD, Braddock, alias John GREEN (c.1688-1757)]
A Map of the most Inhabited part of New England containing the Provinces of Massachusets Bay and New Hampshire, with the Colonies of Conecticut and Rhode Island, Divided into Counties and Townships: The whole composed from Actual Surveys and its Situation adjusted by Astronomical Observations
London: Thomas Jefferys, November 29th, 1755 [but circa 1764]. Copper-engraved map, on four unjoined and untrimmed sheets as issued. Sheet size: of each 29 3/8 x 21 3/8 inches.
The largest and most detailed map of New England that had yet been published, and one of the great maps of the east coast of America, by one of the greatest figures in 18th-century cartography: 'Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards' (Cumming, p.47)
This is the grandest, most accurate and detailed map of New England produced during the British colonial period. It depicts the entire region from Long Island Sound up north to line of 44'30 of latitude. While it shows that the coastal areas, and the lower Connecticut Valley were well settled, areas of the interior, especially in New Hampshire and the future Vermont were just developing, with the early boundaries of townships having recently been established by surveyors. Importantly, this map contains two highly-detailed cartographic insets, one of the city of Boston (upper-left), and another of Boston Harbor on the lower-right sheet. The map is also adorned with a very handsome pictorial title cartouche, depicting the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The present map is the first issue of the second edition of this work, and has been significantly updated from the original issue of 1755.
The map's publisher, Thomas Jefferys was the leading British mapmaker of the mid-eighteenth century. He became geographer to the Prince of Wales in 1746 and then to King George III in 1760. He published a remarkable number of maps and charts, and is best known for his work The American Atlas (1775)
This map's maker, John Green, was an intriguing and larger-than-life figure, who has been called "the genius behind Jefferys." In addition to his extensive cartographic abilities, Green's personal history also stands out from amongst the biographies of other 18th-century British map makers. Green was born Braddock Mead in Ireland around 1688, married in Dublin in 1715 and moved to London in 1717. He was imprisoned in 1728 for trying to defraud an Irish heiress, and assumed his alias after his release from prison. He worked with Ephriam Chambers on his Universal Dictionary before joining the employ of Cave, Astley, and Jefferys. William Cumming remarked that he 'had a number of marked characteristics as a cartographer ... One was his ability to collect, to analyze the value of, and to use a wide variety of sources; these he acknowledged scrupulously on the maps he designed and even more fully in accompanying remarks. Another outstanding characteristic was his intelligent compilation and careful evaluation of reports on latitudes and longitudes used in the construction of his maps, which he also entered in tables on the face of the maps ... Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards; in the making of maps and navigational charts he was in advance of his time. For this he deserves due credit.' (Cumming, p.45)
Degrees of Latitude, 35; McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 755.19 (first edition/state); Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 799; Stevens & Tree, "Comparative Cartography," 33(c), in Tooley, The Mapping of America. Cf. Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green" Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America, pp.45-47.
#19736$35,000.00
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 [MEAD, Braddock, alias John GREEN (c.1688-1757)] and Georges Louis LE ROUGE (1712-90)
A Map of the most Inhabited part of New England containing the Provinces of Massachusets Bay and New Hampshire, with the Colonies of Conecticut and Rhode Island, Divided into Counties and Townships: The whole composed from Actual Surveys and its Situation adjusted by Astronomical Observations
Paris: Chez Le Rouge rue des grands Augustins, 1777. Copper-engraved map, on four joined sheets, with original outline colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 38 1/2 x 40 1/4 inches.
A very fine copy of this highly important and large scale map of New England, the finest map of the region available to military commanders during the Revolutionary War
This is the grandest, most accurate and detailed map of New England produced during the British colonial period. It depicts the entire region from Long Island Sound up north to the line of 44'30 of latitude. While it shows that the coastal areas and the lower Connecticutt Valley were well settled, areas of the interior, especially in New Hampshire and the future Vermont were just developing, with the early boundaries of townships having recently been established by surveyors. Importantly, this map contains two detailed cartographic insets, one of the city of Boston (upper-left), and another of Boston Harbor on the lower-right sheet. The map is also adorned with a very handsome pictorial title cartouche, depicting the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The present map is the edition produced by Georges-Louis Le Rouge, then the royal Geographer to Louis XVI, and was significantly updated from the original issue of 1755. Copies of this issue would most certainly have been consulted by French commanders such as the Comtes D'Estaing and Rochambeau who both led forces in New England following France's entry into the Revolutionary War in support of the American cause in 1778.
This map's maker, John Green, was an intriguing and larger-than-life figure, who has been called "the genius behind Jefferys". In addition to his extensive cartographic abilities, Green's personal history also stands out from amongst the biographies of other 18th-century British map makers. Green was born Braddock Mead in Ireland around 1688, married in Dublin in 1715 and moved to London in 1717. He was imprisoned in 1728 for trying to defraud an Irish heiress, and assumed his alias after his release from prison. He worked with Ephriam Chambers on his Universal Dictionary before joining the employ of Cave, Astley, and Jefferys. William Cumming remarked that Mead/Green 'had a number of marked characteristics as a cartographer ... One was his ability to collect, to analyze the value of, and to use a wide variety of sources; these he acknowledged scrupulously on the maps he designed and even more fully in accompanying remarks. Another outstanding characteristic was his intelligent compilation and careful evaluation of reports on latitudes and longitudes used in the construction of his maps, which he also entered in tables on the face of the maps ... Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards; in the making of maps and navigational charts he was in advance of his time. For this he deserves due credit.' (Cumming, p.45).
McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 755.19; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 802; cf. Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green" Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America, pp.45-47.
#19735$7,500.00
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 [MEAD, Braddock, alias John GREEN (c.1688-1757)]
A Map of the most Inhabited part of New England containing the Provinces of Massachusets Bay and New Hampshire, with the Colonies of Conecticut and Rhode Island, Divided into Counties and Townships. The whole composed from Actual Surveys and its Situation adjusted by Astronomical Observations
[Augsburg: Tobias Conrad Lotter, 1776]. Copper-engraved map by T.C. Lotter, with original colour, on four sheets joined, each sheet with a honizontal crease and discolouration. Sheet size: 43 1/3 x 39 inches.
A fine copy of one of the greatest maps of New England
This large, intriguing map of New England was drawn by a shadowy figure named Braddock Mead, an Irishman and a geographer, who had to change his name to escape prosecution for kidnapping and related charges. He chose the name John Green and continued his geographical and cartographical work with several different publishers, ending up with Thomas Jefferys, the leading map publisher in London at that time. Only one map actually bears the name "J. Green", but there are characteristic traits to Mead/Green's maps that make the attributions fairly certain, and Jefferys states that he worked on "many of my Geographical performances..." G. R. Crone brought Green's identity to light in two Imago Mundi articles in the early 1950s.
The map was the first large scale printed map of New England. Six different states of the map appeared in London between 1755 and 1794. This edition was engraved by Tobias Conrad Lotter, Matthew Seutter's son-in-law, in Augsburg, in 1776 based on the 4th state of the map. It is an exact copy of the Jefferys' map with the inset maps of Boston and of Boston Harbor and the vignette of the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth in the cartouche. Interest in events taking place in New England in 1776 was of course intense, and the sharply drawn inset maps of Boston would have been especially appreciated.
The map is rich in fascinating information for New Englanders, and it is displayed with great clarity. From a historical viewpoint, Mead's map shows the extent of white European dominion in the region after a century and a half of settlement and growth.
G. R. Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green..." Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Mapping Colonial America. Degrees of Latitude. # 35; Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America, p. 45-47.
#12289$8,750.00
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 [MEAD, Braddock, alias John GREEN (c.1688-1757)]
A Map of the most Inhabited part of New England containing the Provinces of Massachusets [sic.] Bay and New Hampshire, with the Colonies of Conecticut and Rhode Island, Divided into Counties and Townships: The whole composed from Actual Surveys and its Situation adjusted by Astronomical Observations
London: Thomas Jefferys, November 29th, 1774. Copper-engraved map, with contemporary outline hand colour, folding, as issued, in 24 sections backed onto linen (overall size: 39 1/2 x 41 1/2 inches). In fine condition with some spotting and toning. Contained within a modern dark red cloth two-fold chemise, all within a dark red morocco-backed cloth slipcase .
The largest and most detailed map of New England that had yet been published, and one of the great maps of the east coast of America, by one of the greatest figures in 18th-century cartography: 'Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards' (Cumming, p.47)
This is the grandest, most accurate and detailed map of New England produced during the British colonial period. It depicts the entire region from Long Island Sound up north to line of 44'30 of latitude. While it shows that the coastal areas, and the lower Connecticut Valley were well settled, areas of the interior, especially in New Hampshire and the future Vermont were just developing, with the early boundaries of townships having recently been established by surveyors. Importantly, this map contains two detailed cartographic insets, one of the city of Boston (upper-left), and another of Boston Harbor on the lower-right sheet. The map is also adorned with a very handsome pictorial title cartouche, depicting the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620. The present map is the third edition and fifth overall state of this work, after the first of 1755 and the second ca. 1763 and ca. 1768, with little alteration from the previous issue beyond the altered imprint.
This copy of the 1774 edition is unusual (and more desirable) as it was clearly sold as a separately issued map: the 1774 edition is more usually found as part of Thomas Jefferys monumental The American Atlas of 1775. Jefferys (1719-71) was the leading British mapmaker and publisher of the mid-eighteenth century. He became the geographer to the Prince of Wales in 1746 and then to King George III in 1760.
This map's maker, John Green, was an intriguing and larger-than-life figure, who has been called "the genius behind Jefferys". In addition to his extensive cartographic abilities, Green's personal history also stands out from amongst the biographies of other 18th-century British map makers. Green was born Braddock Mead in Ireland around 1688, married in Dublin in 1715 and moved to London in 1717. He was imprisoned in 1728 for trying to defraud an Irish heiress, and assumed his alias after his release from prison. He worked with Ephriam Chambers on his Universal Dictionary before joining the employ of Cave, Astley, and Jefferys. William Cumming remarked that 'had a number of marked characteristics as a cartographer ... One was his ability to collect, to analyze the value of, and to use a wide variety of sources; these he acknowledged scrupulously on the maps he designed and even more fully in accompanying remarks. Another outstanding characteristic was his intelligent compilation and careful evaluation of reports on latitudes and longitudes used in the construction of his maps, which he also entered in tables on the face of the maps ... Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards; in the making of maps and navigational charts he was in advance of his time. For this he deserves due credit.' (Cumming, p.45)
Degrees of Latitude, 35; McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps 774.4 and cf. 755.19 (first edition/state); Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies 1650-1789, 799; Stevens & Tree, "Comparative Cartography" in Tooley, Mapping of America, 33(e); cf. Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green" Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America, pp.45-47.
#21362$15,000.00
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 MEAD, Braddock, alias John Green
A Map of the most Inhabited part of New England containing the Provinces of Massachusets Bay and New Hampshire, with the Colonies of Connecticut and Rhode Island, Divided into Counties and Townships. The whole composed from Actual Surveys and its Situation adjusted by Astronomical Observations
[Augsburg]: Tobias Conrad Lotter, [1776]. Hand-coloured engraving by T. C. Lotter, on four sheets. Good condition. Each sheet: 27 1/4 x 22 3/4 inches approx.
One of the great maps of New England
This large, intriguing map of New England was originally drawn by a shadowy figure named Braddock Mead, an Irishman and a geographer, who had to change his name to escape prosecution for kidnapping and related charges. He chose the name John Green and continued his geographical and cartographical work with several different publishers, ending up with Thomas Jefferys, the leading map publisher in London at that time. Only one map actually bears the name "J. Green", but there are characteristic traits to Mead/Green's maps that make the attributions fairly certain, and Jefferys states that he worked on "many of my Geographical performances..." G. R. Crone brought Green's identity to light in two Imago Mundi articles in the early 1950s.
The map was the first large scale printed map of New England. Six different states of the map appeared in London between 1755 and 1794. This edition was engraved by Tobias Conrad Lotter, Matthew Seutter's son-in-law, in Augsburg, in 1776 based on the 4th state of the map. It is an exact copy of the Jefferys' map with the inset maps of Boston and of Boston Harbor and the vignette of the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth in the cartouche. Interest in events taking place in New England in 1776 was of course intense, and the sharply drawn inset maps of Boston would have been especially appreciated.
The map is rich in fascinating information for New Englanders, and it is displayed with great clarity. From a historical viewpoint, Mead's map shows the extent of European dominion in the region after a century and a half of settlement and growth.
G. R. Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green..." Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Mapping Colonial America. Degrees of Latitude. # 35; Cumming, British Maps of Colonial America, p. 45-47.
#19102$8,750.00
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 [MEAD, Braddock (alias John Green)]; - Thomas JEFFERYS
A New Map of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island with the Adjacent Parts of New England and Canada
London: Printed & Sold by R. Sayer & J. Bennett, 15 June 1775. Engraved map. Sheet size: 21 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches).
A seminal English map of Maine, Nova Scotia and the Gulf of St. Laurence published on the eve of the American Revolution.
Originally published by Thomas Jefferys in 1755, at the beginning of the French and Indian War, this map "proved to be an important document in evaluating respective French and English claims to this part of North America" (Ristow). England gained sole possession of the region by the Treaty of Paris which ended the war 1763.
Jefferys, the leading British mapmaker of the mid-eighteenth century, became geographer to the Prince of Wales in 1746 and geographer to the King in 1760. He published a remarkable number of maps and charts, many of the North American continent. "The genius behind Jefferys in his shop was a brilliant man who at this time went by the alias of John Green.
In addition to his extensive cartographic abilities, Green's personal history also stands out from amongst the biographies of other 18th-century British map makers. John Green was born Braddock Mead in Ireland before 1688, married in Dublin in 1715 and around 1717 moved to London. He was imprisoned in 1728 for trying to defraud an Irish heiress. He also worked with Chambers on his Universal Dictionary. After he got out of gaol, he took the name of Green, and subsequently worked for Cave, Astley, and Jefferys. Mead 'had a number of marked characteristics as a cartographer ... One was his ability to collect, to analyze the value of, and to use a wide variety of sources; these he acknowledged scrupulously on the maps he designed and even more fully in accompanying remarks. Another outstanding characteristic was his intelligent compilation and careful evaluation of reports on latitudes and longitudes used in the construction of his maps, which he also entered in tables on the face of the maps ... Mead's contributions to cartography stand out ... At a time when the quality and the ethics of map production were at a low ebb in England, he vigorously urged and practiced the highest standards; in the making of maps and navigational charts he was in advance of his time. For this he deserves due credit." (Cumming).
Jefferys published three states of this map in 1755 (see Kershaw); in 1775, on the eve of the American Revolution and with renewed interest in maps of America due to the conflict, Sayer and Bennett re-issued the map in the "American Atlas".
Crone, "John Green. Notes on a neglected Eighteenth Century Geographer and Cartographer," Imago Mundi, VI (1950) p. 89-91; Crone, "Further Notes on Braddock Mead, alias John Green..." Imago Mundi, VIII (1951) p. 69; Stevens & Tree, "Comparative Cartography" 66c, in Tooley, The Mapping of America; Kershaw, Early Printed Maps of Canada 745; McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps 775.8; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps and Charts of North America and the West Indies 309
#25733$1,750.00
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 MELISH, John (1771-1822)
Map of the United States with the contiguous British and Spanish Possessions Compiled from the latest and best authorities by John Melish engraved by J. Vallance & H. S. Tanner.
[Philadelphia: 1818]. Engraved map, with full period hand colouring, dissected into 40 sections and linen backed (as issued). Inset of the West Indies, statistical table. Housed in a modern red morocco backed box. Sheet size: 36 3/8 x 58 1/4 inches.
The first large-scale map of the United States: this very rare issue of great signficance to the mapping of the West, being the issue used to determine the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico in the 1819 Adams-Onis treaty.
A map of inestimable importance - one which synthesized the best data available at the crucial moment of the opening of American West, and one which, in a sense, envisioned and enabled the Manifest Destiny of the United States. "The cartographic publication that best publicized for the American people the data derived from the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Zebulon Pike's exploration of the southwest in 1806 and 1807 was John Melish's 1816 Map of the United States" (Ristow). Also, much like the Mitchell map of the previous century, the Melish became the map of record in many important treaties between the United States and Spain, Mexico, and both the Republic and State of Texas. Specifically, the United States-Mexico boundary was laid out on a copy of the map according to the Adams-Otis Treaty signed in February 22, 1819.
The map also played a key role in the development of American mapmaking. "An exquisite map, it distinguished Melish as the leading American map publisher of the second decade and placed American maps on equal footing with those produced by the prestigious firms in London and Paris" (Schwartz). In fact, Melish founded the first company in the United States to deal specifically in maps and geographical works. The map was engraved by arguably the two finest map engravers in the United States at the time: John Vallance and Henry S. Tanner. It set a new standard for clarity and precision in map production.
The present example is the second issue of the 1818 edition, as identified by Ristow (in A la carte pp.162-182, the most complete account of the map). The 1818 edition is of particular importance, as it is "the 1818 edition that was consulted by the official arbiters in laying down the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions in 1819" (Ristow).
Martin and Martin write: "Recognizing that the demand for geographical information on the American west was limitless in the foreseeable future, Melish undertook to accumulate a vast amount of descriptions, statistics and maps and in 1816 produced in six sheets his famous map ... For the Texas area, Melish relied heavily on the surveys conducted by William Darby, who had personally surveyed much of the Sabine River area ... Melish's maps significantly improved the descriptions and depictions of the Texas interior, but perhaps its most lasting value to history was its official association with the Adams-Onis Treaty, because Melish's 90th meridian, today the eastern boundary of the Texas Panhandle, was off by approximately ninety miles, controversy and court litigation concerning the correct boundary lasted well beyond Texas's annexation ... Of lasting value, too, was the widespread dissemination of new information concerning Texas geography only five years before Stephen F. Austin decided to honor his father's contract with the Mexican government to bring Anglo-American settlers to inhabit this rich new land" (Martin & Martin).
There are two primary reasons for the great rarity of this map: firstly, Melish only printed 100 copies of each issue to allow him to constantly update the map with the latest geographical information; the second reason is its large size which has ensured a high attrition rate over the past two centuries. Melish's map, the first on a large scale to show the area of the present United States from coast to coast, provided most Americans with their first clear-sighted view of the continental landmass of which the United States was a part. Thomas Jefferson, said of the map that it provides a "luminous view of the comparative possessions of different powers in our America."
Ristow, American Maps and Mapmakers, p. 446; Ristow in A la Carte, pp. 162-182; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, pp. 238-39, pl. 233; Wheat II, no. 322, pp. 62-64; Martin & Martin, p. 115 (plate 26).
#26670$95,000.00
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Copyright © 2002-2011 Donald A. Heald
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