MORTIER, Pierre (1661-1711)

Carte General de la Caroline. Dresse sur les Memoires le plus Nouveaux par le Sieua [sic.] S***.

Amsterdam: P. Mortier, [1700]. Copper-engraved map, with full original colour. Sheet size: 24 7/8 x 21 1/4 inches.

A fine copy of the first map of the Carolinas to be printed outside of England, including an inset of Charleston with the names and positions of early plantations along the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, present here in the first state

This is the first map of the Carolinas to be printed outside of England, and was included as part of Pierre Mortier's Suite de Neptune François, published in Amsterdam in 1700, and often incorrectly attributed to Nicolas Sanson. It is directly derived from the extremely rare A New Map of Carolina of 1685 by John Thornton, Robert Morden and Philip Lea. All topographical details are identical to those of its antecedent, however most of the place names have been Gallicized. Also, The table of settlers has been omitted in favour of the title caption. Amusingly a "Charle Ville ou Charles Towne" appears written in large letters near Cape Fear, while the actual Charles Towne is labeled in small letters further down the coast. The present map includes an inset detail of Charleston and the Cooper and Ashley Rivers with the names and positions of various early plantations marked along their banks. 'Carolina was established in 1663 when Charles II granted the province to eight favorites, known as the Lord Proprietors, who had helped him regain the throne of England. The original grant included the territory between the 31st degree to 36 1/2 degrees north latitude, from Jekyll Island, Georgia, to Curritiuck Inlet, North Carolina. Two years later, the tract was enlarged to include the land between the 29th and the 31st degrees north latitude, thus adding a large portion of Florida. The grant extended west to the Pacific Ocean' (Degrees of Latitude, p.93).

Burden, The Mapping of North America II, 767; Cumming, The Southeast in Early Maps, 120; Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici IV, M.Mor 7-33.

Item #20318

Price: $4,500.00