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RATZER, Bernard (fl. 1756-84) & William FADEN, (1750-1836)

The Province of New Jersey, Divided into East and West, commonly called the Jerseys

London: Wm. Faden, December 1st, 1777. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour, on two joined sheets, in very good condition.

The first state of one of the finest and most celebrated maps of New Jersey, made during the Revolutionary War

This elegant composition depicts New Jersey in finely engraved detail at a large scale of 7 miles to an inch. The map was the grandest representation of the state made up to that time, taking in the entire breadth of the state, as well as the Hudson Valley, most of Long Island, eastern Pennsylvania and all of Delaware Bay. It captures the state's rich topography, including the Jersey Highlands and the Palisades in the north and the broad Pine Barrens and coastal marshes in the south. The county divisions, major roads and towns are all carefully depicted, indicating that New Jersey was, by the standards of the time, heavily populated, having over 120,000 inhabitants.

Faden based his rendering of the state largely on the manuscript works of Bernard Ratzer, a British military surveyor most famous for his map of New York City. Ratzer's rendezvous with New Jersey cartography stemmed from the resolution of the bitter boundary dispute between that state and New York that had raged for over a century. In 1764, George III charged Samuel Holland and William De Brahm with settling the boundary, and their demarcation was finally surveyed by Ratzer in 1769. Ratzer's line is noted on the map as "The boundary settled by commissioners in 1769". Two of Ratzer's New Jersey manuscripts, one dealing with the boundary question, and another featuring Monmouth and Ocean Counties are today preserved in the Faden Collection at the Library of Congress. Faden supplemented Ratzer's work with surveys of the northern part of the state made by Gerard Bancker. Curiously, it seems that Bancker's work found its way to Faden, by way of John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore, the former governor of Virginia, who was given a draft by Bancker when he stopped in at New York on his way back to London.

An interesting feature present on the map are the two lines bisecting the state, being the boundary lines between the archaic colonies of East and West Jersey. In 1664, Charles II granted the New Jersey charter jointly to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. Berkeley sold his share to John Fenwick, a Quaker who, in turn, passed it on to a consortium that included William Penn. The king elected to renew only Carteret's charter to the colony, and from 1676 the already small province was split into two awkward colonies. One of the lines present on this map is "Keith's Line" referring to the 1687 demarcation of the boundary by surveyor George Keith. While the two colonies were reunited under a royal governor in 1702, certain private land ownership questions predicated on the partition necessitated that an internal line of division persist, which was re-demarcated as the "Lawrence Line" in 1743.

The map is embellished with a very fine cartouche, formed by trees framing a bucolic scene inhabited by farm houses and raccoons. The lower left of the map is adorned with a table of astrological observations. This copy is an excellent example of this important map, featuring a strong impression and good margins. In a careful original hand, New Jersey, and its internal boundaries have been outlined in pink, while surrounding jurisdictions are outlined in a yellow-green hue.

Guthorn, British Maps of the American Revolution, p.39; Degrees of Latitude, 47; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, Mapping of America, p.193; Snyder, The Mapping of New Jersey, pp.57-59

#19552$35,000.00
 
 
REED, John (1738-1776)

To the Honourable House of Representatives of the Freemen of Pennsylvania this Map of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia With the Catalogue of Purchasers is Humbly Dedicated

Philadelphia: [Thomas Mann], 1774. Six-sheet engraved map joined as three, engraved onto three copperplates by James Smither (33 x 23 inches each, approximately 33 x 60 inches overall). Inset plan of Philadelphia after Thomas Holme, engraved views of the Alms House, Pennsylvania Hospital, and the State House. Housed in a modern blue cloth case, with blue morocco label to spine. Each sheet tissue-backed repairing tears and losses principally in the margins, some loss to text at the upper right corner of the easternmost sheet.

[With:] John REED. An Explanation of the Map of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed for the Author, and Sold by Mr. Nicholas Brooks, 1774. Quarto signed in 2s (9 3/8 x 7 1/8 inches). Outer corners of first and last few leaves rounded without affecting the text. Contemporary grey paper wrappers (lacking the lower wrapper, backstrip and upper cover torn with some loss), modern dark blue cloth chemise, all within a dark blue morocco-backed cloth slipcase, lettered in gilt on the 'spine'. Provenance: Jay T. Snider (book-label).

The Snider copy of the rarest and most impressive map of Philadelphia, complete with a copy of its explanatory text.

The map is in its second state, with the printers name removed from the plate: in either state, it is very rare. No copies are listed as having sold at auction in the past 100 years. "Almost a century later than those by Holme, [Reed's map] pictures the Philadelphia of the Declaration of Independence and of the Revolution. More widely used than any other early map, it shows the degree to which the Founder's plans had prevailed, or been modified in the Philadelphia known to Washington, Franklin and Jefferson, and as it appeared during the decade when it was not only the capital of the nation, but second only to London among English-speaking communities" (Lingelbach, "William Penn and City Planning" in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography vol. 68, no. 4).

"John Reed was a promising younger merchant in Philadelphia before the Revolution. He was also convinced that he and his family had been unjustly deprived by William Penn of lands rightfully theirs lying outside the city. That conviction carried him to the publication of a small book and a new and different kind of Philadelphia map" (Snyder).

The lands in question were the so called Liberty Lands, free tracts of land given to first settlers by William Penn. Reeds map records the holdings and plots the locations of each of William Penns first purchasers, including that region north of the city. "The layout of the lots within the liberty lands was first mapped in 1774 by John Reed. Reed's map essentially serves as a warrantee tract map of the liberties and the book recites in detail the courses and distances of all the surveys within the liberties and the Original Purchaser's name under which each liberty lot was claimed" (Munger, Pennsylvania Land Records).

Evans 13564; Howes R128; Sabin 68554; Snyder City of Independence 41a; Wheat & Brun 458.

#21608$82,500.00
 
 
SAUTHIER, Claude Joseph (1736-1802) and HOMANN HEIRS

Mappa Geographica Provinciae Novae Eboraci ab Anglis New York dictae ex ampliori delineatione ad exactus dimensiones concinnata in arctius Spatium redacta cura Claudii Josephi Sauthier cui acceit Nova Jersey ex topographicis observationibus.

Nuremberg: Homann Heirs, 1778. Copper-engraved map, on two joined sheets, with original outline colour, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 34 1/8 x 25 inches.

An especially fine copy of Homann Heirs' elegant edition of Sauthier's celebrated map of New York and New Jersey, made during the Revolutionary War

The present map was printed by the esteemed Nuremberg firm, Homann Heirs, and is derivative of Claude Joseph Sauthier's greatest production, a large manuscript map of the provinces of New York and New Jersey which was first published on three sheets in 1776 by William Faden as A Map of the Province of New York. That map also included details taken from Bernard Ratzer's survey of New Jersey. Sauthier continued to improve this great manuscript during the first years of the Revolution, and in 1779 it was published, again by Faden, but on six sheets, as A Chorographical Map.... Although the two are usually viewed as different maps, they are clearly based on the same source (the aforementioned large manuscript), and the present map is a reduced version of this mapping sequence.

The Sauthier map contains a vast amount of information lacking in earlier works, particularly in upstate New York, the Catskills, and Vermont. Sauthier stated that "the Mohawk Valley and County of Tryon are Laid down according to an Actual Survey and other Manuscripts generously communicated by Governor Pownall [the esteemed cartographer and former Massachusetts governor]." The result is an amazing record of New York and New Jersey from the Revolutionary War period.

Alsatian by birth, Claude Joseph Sauthier accompanied Governor William Tryon to North Carolina in 1769. He surveyed several North Carolina towns and designed "Tryon's Palace" at New Bern before accompanying Tryon to New York in 1771. He subsequently conducted many surveys of New York, and during the revolution he served as a military engineer producing a number of fine maps for the British Army. A number of Sauthier's printed and manuscript maps, including an example of the present map, can be found in the collection formed by Sir Henry Clinton, Commander of the British Forces in North America, 1775-1782, now preserved at the William L. Clements Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

This map was made by Germany's premier printer of cartographic works, originally founded by Johann Baptist Homann (1663-1724). Homann had established himself in Nuremberg, and by 1715 was appointed Geographer to the Emperor, producing some of the finest maps and atlases of the age. After Homann's death, the prolific 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.

McCorckle, Early Printed Maps of New England, 778.9; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 1049

#19732$3,500.00
 
 
SCULL, Nicholas (1687 - 1761)

To the Honourable Thomas Penn and Richard Penn Esqrs. True & absolute Proprietaries & Governours of the Province of Pennsylvania & Counties of New-Castle Kent & Sussex on Delaware This Map of the improved Part of the Province of Pennsylvania. Is humbly Dedicated by Nicholas Scull.

Philadelphia: 1759. Engraved map on six sheets, joined as three. Excellent condition, with three short repaired tears, very minor age toning at the sheet edges, overall in remarkable unsophisticated condition. Provenance: Laird U. Park (Sotheby’s New York, 29 November 2000, lot 322). Sheet size: 3 sheets, each app. 31 x 21 1/2 inches.

"The first map of Pennsylvania to be published in America [as well as] the most ambitious cartographical work to come from an American source before the Revolution" (Wroth).

Nicholas Scull, Jr. (1687-1761) was born in Philadelphia to Nicholas Scull, Sr. the surveyor and mapmaker, who had been apprenticed to William Penn's surveyor, Thomas Holme. In 1719, he became deputy surveyor of Philadelphia County, eventually ascending to the Surveyor Generalship of Pennsylvania in 1748. A bibliophile, he was an original member of Benjamin Franklin's Junto. Scull was intimately involved with Indian relations for the colony, having travelled amongst the tribes to survey the western counties. He was knowledgeable in several local Native languages. But in the dispute that arose about the infamous Walking Purchase of 1737, at which he was present, his recollections favored the Proprietors. This is hardly surprising but it no doubt put him in a good position with the Penn family, and it is thought that this may have led to the publication of this impressive map. It was the first map of Pennsylvania since Thomas Holme's 1687 map of the then much smaller settlement, and represents a vast amount of on-site surveying. Dedicated to the Penn brothers, Scull's map is among the largest and finest maps produced in America in the 18th century. It was an extraordinary achievement.

The map depicts Philadelphia, Bucks, Northampton, Berks, Chester, Lancaster, Cumberland, and York Counties, and is based on Scull's own surveys, as well as the contributions of several others (whom he acknowledges). Some information was gleaned from printed sources, including Fry-Jefferson's important map, evidenced by a printed footnote concerning the location of Fort Cumberland and the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. Elevation is accurately depicted, much in the style of Fry-Jefferson, by neat hachuring marks. The eastern counties include a wealth of detail, such as churches, meeting houses, inns, iron forges, mills and the manors of significant residents; roads, Indian paths, Indian towns and forts: all clearly shown throughout. Although generally quite accurate, it is curious that Scull included Fort Granville on his map, which had been destroyed by the French and Delaware Indians in 1756. Nevertheless, the importance and accuracy of this large-scale map is underscored by the fact that a copy of it was among the maps hung by the Board of War at Philadelphia in August 1776, twenty years after the map's publication (as noted by John Adams in his letter to his wife dated 13 August 1776).

The map was engraved by James Turner (d. 1759), a Philadelphia silversmith and protégé of Benjamin Franklin. Turner had previously worked on map engraving during the production of James Parker's 1747 maps of New Jersey, a project for which he had been recommended by Franklin. Little is known about the printer John Davis. Although he had no shop, he appears to have specialized in large copperplate engravings of maps, as he is the printer identified in the imprint of the 1756 Philadelphia first edition of Joshua Fisher's important chart of Delaware Bay. That map and the present one are his only known works.

Nicholas Scull's grandson William Scull revised and extended the 1759 map in a version that was also dedicated to the Penn brothers but which was published in London in 1770, and appeared subsequently in several editions through the decade. Much of the geographical information is the same, but interestingly the earlier map is both larger and evinces greater aesthetic satisfaction.

Scull's 1759 map of Pennsylvania is very rare, with less than a dozen known institutional copies. Only a few have appeared at auction in the last half century, most notably in the sales of the collections of Thomas W. Streeter, Howard E. Welsh and Laird U. Park (this copy).

Everstadt 167:430 (quoting Wroth); Evans 8489; Garrison, "Cartography of Pennsylvania before 1800 in PMHB vol. 59, no.3; Phillips, p. 673; Ristow, pp. 52-53, Streeter sale 965; Wheat & Brun 422; Sellers & Van Ee 1294.0

#21368$185,000.00
 
 
SMITH, After Anthony

Baye de Chesapeake en 4 feuilles avec les Bas fonds, Passes, Entrees, Sondes et Routes... Patowmack, Patapsco, et Nord-Est d'apres les Dessins de Navigateurs Experimentes, principal d'apres A. Smith Pilote de St. Marys; Comparees avec les Nouvelles Levees de Virginie et Maryland

Paris: George Louis Le Rouge, 1778. Copper-engraved map. 4 sheets intended to be joined. In this example, the sheets have been joined in pairs. Sheet size: 2 sheets 21 x 55 inches each.

Marvelous Chesapeake Bay chart made during the American Revolution

The first French edition of Chesapeake pilot Anthony Smith's highly detailed chart of Chesapeake Bay and the rivers that converge in it. As Pritchard points out, pilots were offering themselves for hire to visiting merchant ships from the 1640s onward, so hazardous are sand spits, currents and shoals. Given the critical need, it is surprising how few charts were made in the 18th century.

In making his chart, Anthony Smith, of St, Mary's County in Maryland, took the most important cartographical works on the region: Walter Hoxton's 1735 chart and Fry and Jefferson's map of Virginia and added to this information many soundings in the mouths of Western shore rivers, making it the best chart of the Bay.

As such, it was published by George Louis Le Rouge in the Pilote Americain Septentrionale in 1778, the year in which the French formally allied with the Americans. The LeRouge is undoubtedly based on the 2nd English edition of 1777.

The first two editions of Smith's chart are virtually unobtainable, so the LeRouge edition (the third) in a large, wall map scale, represents an opportunity for collectors to see in detail the places where on sea and land the British endured their final defeat. Three years after it was issued, the French fleet, having driven off the British, blockaded the Bay and surrounded the Yorktown peninsula, which, in concert with Washington's siege, forced the British to surrender.

Degrees of Latitude 48; Sellers & Van Ee, 1496

#21326$45,000.00
 
 
SPEED, John (c. 1552-1629)

A Map of New England and New York

London: Thomas Basset & Richard Chiswell, [circa 1676]. Copper-engraved map, with original outline colour, and the title and margins double-ruled in red, in excellent condition. Sheet size: 17 1/4 x 22 1/4 inches.

An extraordinary copy of Speed's map of New England and New York, with magnificent original colour, and with the title and margins double-ruled in red, indicating a noble English provenance

This highly decorative map is luxuriously embellished with original colour, and its title and margins are double ruled in red, a magnificent and unique custom generally reserved for special presentation pieces intended for English noble patrons. John Speed, the leading London cartographer of the Baroque period devised his interpretation of the Jansson-Visscher sequence of New England and New York maps shortly after the English managed to definitively supplant the Dutch from control of New York and New Jersey, both provinces being renamed after British places. The major settlements of Boston, New Plymouth (Massachusetts), New York, New Castle (Delaware), New Haven, Stamford (Connecticut), and Ft. Orange (modern Albany) are named; however, this map predates the founding of Philadelphia in 1682. The outline of coastal New England is based on the work of earlier English cartographers, the most prominent being Captain John Smith. Long Island, the Hudson Valley, New Jersey and the Delaware Basin are based on Dutch seacharts. Speed advanced his portrayal of the head of Chesapeake Bay and the delineation of the Susquehanna River from earlier maps in the sequence, taking into account the latest English information. Curiously, the interior of the region outside of the Hudson and Connecticut Valleys is shown to be wildly misunderstood. The native tribes that occupied the interior and the French, who controlled the St. Lawrence Valley (Quebec) to the north, generally did not express pleasure upon encountering foreign explorers, and this ensured that very little information regarding these regions was available to either English or Dutch cartographers. Lake Champlain or the "Lake of Irocoisiensis" is located far to the east of its true location and the delineation of the St. Lawrence River is based on pure speculation. The enigmatic interior is, however, graced by the finely-engraved presence of woodland animals, such as a bear, a deer, an otter and several beavers. The title cartouche in the lower right is elegantly surmounted by the Royal arms of England.

Campbell, 'The Jansson-Visscher Maps of New England,' 23, in Tooley, Mapping of America, pp.290-291; McCorkle, Early Printed Maps of New England, 676.6

#20443$12,000.00
 
 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey

Chesapeake Bay, York River Hampton's Roads Chesapeake Entrance

Washington D.C.: Published by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, Sept. 1899. Engraving. Printed on wove paper. In excellent condition with the exception of a large in filled tear in the upper margin. Another expertly mended tear on the bottom margin. Image size: 37 3/4 x 27 1/4 inches. Sheet size: 29 7/8 x 42 inches.

A fascinating sea chart of the Chesapeake Bay, produced by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey.

In response to the growing need for accurate coastal charts of America, Thomas Jefferson signed a bill creating the United States Coast Survey. Founded in 1807, the agency was responsible for conducting detailed surveys of the coastal areas, which were then carefully recorded in large navigational charts. These charts included information on shoals, reefs, and other navigational hazards that plagued American vessels. Ferdinand Hassler, a young Swiss engineer, was selected to establish the new agency, but various obstacles meant that the actual surveying did not commence until 1816, when Hassler began work on New York Bay.

Hassler was succeeded by Alexander Dallas Bache who dedicated himself to surveying the country's extended coastline. Under Bache the quality of the engraving and lettering in the charts achieved a high standard and the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey became a permanent, and heartily supported government function. The work of the Coast Survey not only resulted in the most accurate charts of America's coastal waters, but pioneered the techniques and equipment used by later surveyors in mapping the interior of the country.

Conducted under S. Pritchett, who ran the Survey office for only three years before becoming president of M.I.T, this detailed chart covers the Chesapeake Bay including the York River, and the Hampton Roads waterway. Water depths and sand bars are all carefully recorded, as are the various lighthouses along the coastline. Tides, soundings and buoys are also noted as well as weather signal stations and life saving stations. This is an important sea chart of this area and wonderful example of the maps produced by the United States Coast Survey.

#16000$1,500.00
 
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