SAUTHIER, Claude Joseph (1736-1802) and HOMANN HEIRS

[NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY] 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.

Item #19732

Price: $2,000.00