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Item #13573 A New Map of the English Empire in America Viz Virginia Maryland Carolina Pennsylvania New York New Jersey New England by Rob: Morden. Robert MORDEN, Christopher BROWN, d.1703.

A New Map of the English Empire in America Viz Virginia Maryland Carolina Pennsylvania New York New Jersey New England by Rob: Morden

London: "Sold by Robt. Morden at the Atlas in Cornhill./ And by Christopher Brown at ye Globe/ near the Westend of St. Pauls/ Church: London", [circa, 1695]. Copper-engraved map by John Harris, with original outline colour. Paper toned and margins somewhat soiled otherwise in very good condition. Sheet size: 20 3/4 x 24 1/2 inches.

A rare and important map of the American colonies, in the scarce first state.

This is in effect a propaganda map, compiled during the War of the League of Augsburg, or King William's War (1689-97). Morden shows the English American colonies thrusting westward, at the expense of the rival French claims. In addition to the Midwest, much of Canada is shown as English. The English colonies along the Atlantic Seaboard are carefully delineated according to English sources, but Canada, the Mississippi Valley, and the Great Lakes are based on French sources, including the maps of Dablon (1672) and Thevenot (1681). Morden still preserves Lederer's configuration (1672) in his depiction of the interior of the Southeast. At lower right is a large inset map of the North Atlantic, the vital life line between Britain and its American empire. Just above is the title piece crowned by the Royal Arms, and an inset map of Boston Harbor based on Thomas Pound's A New Mapp of New England from Cape Codd to Cape Sables (1691). The engraver, John Harris was one of the most accomplished members of his profession working in England. The insets are surrounded by decorative acanthus brackets and supports in the arabesque style, a signature motif of the artist. A second state was published in 1719 with the imprint of John Senex. Provenance: deaccessioned from the Western Reserve Historical Society, 2001

Degrees of Latitude, pp. 358-360; Stevens & Tree, Comparative Cartography, 20a, in Tooley, The Mapping of America; McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 695; Cumming, The Southeast in Early Maps, 119; Phillips, A List of Maps of America, p. 564.

Item #13573

Price: $22,500.00

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