Catalog Archive
Auction 160, Lot 372

"Plan of the Town, Road, and Harbour of Chagre", Jefferys, Thomas

Subject: Chagres, Panama

Period: 1762 (circa)

Publication: A Description of the Spanish Islands and Settlements on the Coast of the West Indies

Color: Hand Color

Size:
7.9 x 10.3 inches
20.1 x 26.2 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.

This map depicts a bird's-eye plan of the town and castle of Chagres, an important port along the Atlantic coast of Panama, located at the mouth of the Chagres River. Details include soundings, shoals, rocks and roads. Engraved by Jefferys.

References: Kapp (MCC-73) #78-2; Shirley (BL Atlases) M.JEF-3a #9.

Condition: B+

Issued folding, now flattened on paper with a Lily watermark and light soiling.

Estimate: $200 - $230

Sold for: $150

Closed on 11/16/2016

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