Catalog Archive
Auction 158, Lot 79

"A New Map of Nova Scotia, and Cape Breton Island with the Adjacent Parts of New England and Canada…", Jefferys, Thomas

Subject: Colonial New England & Canada

Period: 1775 (dated)

Publication: The American Atlas

Color: Hand Color

Size:
24.1 x 18.5 inches
61.2 x 47 cm
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Thomas Jefferys was one of the most important English map publishers of the 18th century. His work included prints and maps of locations around the world, but his most notable maps are of North America and the West Indies. He began his career in the map trade in the early 1730s, working as an engraver for a variety of London publishers, and eventually setting up his own shop. In 1746, he was appointed Geographer to the Prince of Wales, and in 1760 he became Geographer to the King. These titles granted access to manuscripts and cartographic information held by the government. In the early 1760s he embarked on an ambitious project to produce a series of English county maps based on new surveys, but ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy in 1766. He then partnered with London publisher Robert Sayer, who reissued many of Jefferys plates and continued to issue new editions after Jefferys' death in 1771. Jefferys' American Atlas and the accompanying West-India Atlas, published post posthumously, are considered his most important cartographic works.

Fourth state of this long-lived map, first issued in 1755. The map includes New England as far south as Boston, the St. Lawrence River up to Montreal, and as far north as the southern coastline of Labrador. The boundary between Nova Scotia and New England begins at the Penobscot River and then along a dotted line straight north, roughly according to the Treaty of Versailles. It provides an excellent view of the region with detail of the settlements, roads, forts, Indian nations and fishing banks. Adorned by a decorative title cartouche. Published by Sayer and Bennett circa 1783 and issued in Jefferys' American Atlas.

References: Kershaw #745; McCorkle #775.8; Sellers and Van Ee #309.

Condition: B+

Original outline color on watermarked paper with a few worm tracks along the centerfold that have been repaired on verso with archival material. There are old horizontal fold lines across the middle of the map.

Estimate: $500 - $650

Sold for: $350

Closed on 6/22/2016

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