Catalog Archive
Auction 128, Lot 423

"Nouvelle Carte Particuliere de l'Amerique ou sont Exactement Marquees les Iles de Bermude, la Iamaique, Saint Domingue, les Antilles la Terre Ferme", Popple/Covens & Mortier

Subject: Caribbean

Period: 1741 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
20.5 x 23.3 inches
52.1 x 59.2 cm
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This is the southeast sheet of the Dutch, four-part, version of Henry Popple's important map of the British Empire in North America published by Covens and Mortier. It covers the region from Bermuda through the Antilles to the north coast of South America. The map is beautifully engraved and intensively detailed with the trade winds graphically depicted. The map is adorned with a fine compass rose and sailing ships, including a fabulous sea battle between a British squadron under Charles Wager and the Spanish treasure fleet off Cartagena.

Popple based his map on firsthand information gathered over several years at the Board of Trade and Plantations. The map, first issued in London on twenty sheets in 1733, was the first large-scale British map to provide an overall view of the eastern half of North America. As tensions grew between the colonial powers, the map became immensely influential throughout Europe and was copied by several cartographers. Covens & Mortier's version is very desirable due to its smaller size and the fact that each map is completely enclosed within its own border, so that it stands on its own without the other sheets.

References:

Condition: A

Superb impression and original color. There are a couple tiny spots along the centerfold, still overall very good.

Estimate: $1,500 - $1,800

Sold for: $1,100

Closed on 5/20/2009

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