Carte de la Nouvelle Angleterre New York Pensilvanie et Nouveau Jersay Suivant les Cartes Angloises
[Map of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, according to the English maps]
Paris: Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine [?], 1764
Size (neatline): 37.6 x 32.5 cm / 14.8 x 12.8 in
Size (sheet): 42.8 x 35.1 cm / 16.9 x 13.8 in
Technique: Copper engraving
Colour: Hand coloured
Verso: Blank
Condition: Very good
Scarce, larger version of Bellin’s map of New England and the Northeast of the U.S.
Description
This elegant map is from Jacques-Nicolas Bellin’s Le Petit Atlas Maritime. With close to 600 charts and a strong focus on harbour cities and towns, this atlas is considered the leading publication of its kind at the time it was issued.
The map takes in the region from the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain in the north to Delaware Bay (B[aye]. de Laware) in the south and from the Atlantic in the east to Lake Ontario and the Susquehanna River in the west. The East Coast is shown from Penobscot Bay, Maine, in the north to Little Egg Harbor (Havre du Petit Oeuf), New Jersey, in the south.
Bellin’s map is rich in detail, showing relief (pictorial representation) and water bodies as well as colonial borders and towns. Cities represented include Boston (Baston), New York, and Philadelphia.
Notable features include:
- Cape Code is shown as an island.
- Martha's Vineyard appears as Martha's Wineyard.
- An area north-northwest of Philadelphia and New York carries the note “Cet Interieur n'est pas connu”, i.e. “This Interior is not known”.
A delicate rococo-style title cartouche contains a distance scale showing “Vingt cinq Lieues Communes”, i.e. 25 common leagues, which typically would equal about 120 km or 75 miles.
The map uses the Paris meridian.
While this Bellin map carries a title similar to an earlier map of his (Carte de la Nouvelle Angleterre Nouvelle Yorck et Pensilvanie Pour servir a l’Histoire Generale des Voyages, published 1757), it is about twice its size and much rarer.
The engraver of the map is not indicated. However, we believe this to be either J. Arrivet or Jean-Baptiste Croisey.
A splendid, less common map of the Northeastern Seaboard.
Publication
Le petit atlas maritime : recueil de cartes et plans des quatre parties du monde
Note: Image shows pagination annotation in top right corner (Tome I No. 29.).
Condition
Very good.
A clear impression on a clean, watermarked sheet. Issued folding. Coloured in outline. Trimmed to platemark at bottom, else flawless.
Item #: 02768
US $850.00