Catalog Archive
Auction 158, Lot 207

"[Untitled - A Chart of the Atlantic or Western Ocean]", Williams, Jonathan

Subject: North Atlantic, Gulf Stream

Period: 1802 (circa)

Publication: Transactions of the American Philosophical Society Volume V

Color: Black & White

Size:
18.8 x 12.3 inches
47.8 x 31.2 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

This uncommon and striking chart of the Atlantic Ocean accompanied William Strickland's article "On the Use of the Thermometer in Navigation," which appeared in Volume V of Jonathan Williams' Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. Its most prominent feature is the Gulf Stream, which begins off the coast of West Florida and arcs across the ocean to Senegal and its vicinity. The map shows the eastern United States and Canada, the Yucatan Peninsula and part of Central America, the islands of the Caribbean, Britain, Portugal and Spain, various Atlantic islands, and the northwest coast of Africa, but there is sparse information inland other than some place names. Within the ocean, there are navigation routes, anchorages, trade winds (indicated by arrows), shoals, banks, rocks, and more. The chart delineates the tracks of two of the ships Strickland used in his experiments in taking the temperature of the ocean. Engraved by Benjamin Jones.

References:

Condition: B

A dark impression issued folding with light toning, moderate offsetting, a short edge tear that just enters the neatline at right, and a few short fold separations, most of which have been closed with archival tape on verso.

Estimate: $950 - $1,200

Sold for: $700

Closed on 6/22/2016

Archived