Very rare French edition of Scull & Heap’s seminal plan of Philadelphia

Description

This important plan of Philadelphia from the time of the American Revolutionary War was published by Georges-Louis le Rouge in 1778. It is based on a 1777 William Faden edition of a plan originally issued by Nicholas Scull and George Heap in 1752.

The plan shows the city and its surroundings from German Town (i.e. Germantown) in the north to Billingsfort (i.e. Billingsport) in the south, and from Derby (i.e. Darby) in the west to Gloucester (i.e. Gloucester City) in the east. The city is shown with its early grid plan, as laid out by Thomas Holme, first surveyor general of the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania. It does not feature any specific or named landmarks.

Philadelphia’s environs are shown with numerous named houses and settlements, along with churches, various types of mills, ferry wharves, and the road network. Curious amongst the mills is one (east of Derby) for snuff (according to Faden’s edition; here labelled M[oul]in à Tabac), which appears to have been very popular at the time.

Notable features include:

• Govr. Penns house, northwest of the city, on the western bank of the Schuylkill River, possibly the home of one or several of the four generations of Penns that governed Pennsylvania before independence
• German Town, north of the city, a place rich in history – among other, considered the starting point of the antislavery movement, the site of a Revolutionary War battle in 1777, and the location of the first bank of the United States
• Fair Hill Temple, northeast of the city, a site associated with Quaker history and a historic cemetery
• Batterie demolie, just south of the city, coloured in red, indicating a demolished artillery battery
• military installations in the Delaware, between Fort Red Bank and Billingsfort, both marked in red, including an artillery battery and four redoubts (not shown in Faden’s edition) on an unnamed island as well as three rows of underwater chevaux-de-frise (a type of defensive obstacle).

The original Scull & Heap plan was to promote Philadelphia and stimulate settlement. Over the years, it was published in many editions. Particularly following increased European interest in the events of the unfolding American Revolution and the areas affected by it, publishers in England, Germany, and France reissued in the plan, also varying its size and layout as well as updating underlying cartographic information.

The present French edition is from Le Rouge’s Atlas amériquain septentrional (which includes the Pilote américain septentrional), a rare atlas in three volumes, containing dozens of sea charts. It was prepared for the French Navy, to aid its efforts in support of the Americans during the American Revolutionary War, which France had just formally entered.

Le Rouge’s plan is – other than the exceedingly rare original issue by Scull & Heap – the rarest of all editions on the market.

An elegant and important historic plan of Philadelphia from the time of the American Revolution.

Publication

Atlas amériquain septentrional [1778]

Rarity

The map is very rare on the market. We are able to trace only three sales by dealers and auction houses over the last 40 years.

Condition

Very good.

A crisp impression on a clean, watermarked sheet. Wide margins. One tiny spot in image, at upper right, else clean. Minor soiling along upper and lower right edge. Clean verso.

Item #: 02950

US $8,000.00

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