"North America. Performed Under the Patronage of Louis Duke of Orleans, First Prince of the Blood...", Bolton, Solomon

This is the second edition of this striking four-sheet map of North and Central America with the West Indies, with updated information based on the 1763 Treaty of Paris. It is very detailed with towns, cities, forts, Indian villages and tribal territories in the interior, and shoals, banks and navigational hazards offshore. Includes a large inset of Hudson Bay with notations concerning the search for a Northwest Passage. This map is based on D'Anville's map of 1746 with several notable "additions and improvements." There are several lengthy notations reflecting the extreme nationalism in vogue during this period. In California is a note concerning the discoveries of Sir Francis Drake and the fact that they were not included in D'Anville's map, thus "rather than mention New Albion, as an English claim founded by Drake, the first circumnavigator, they castrate their own maps to blind his discovery." To the left of the decorative title cartouche in the Atlantic is a lengthy notation explaining the holdings of Britain, France and Spain pursuant to the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The title cartouche includes a female figure representing America and several putti, and a second decorative cartouche balances the composition in the lower left depicting a globe and mapmaker's tools, and several putti holding nets of fish and a bow and arrows. An extraordinary map beautifully engraved by Robert Seale, with the cartouches engraved by A. Walker. Four sheets, joined.

References: Sellers & Van Ee #14; Wheat (TMW) #127.

Condition: B+

A nice impression on clean, bright sheets watermarked with a simple fleur-de-lis over the initials "TH." There is some extraneous creasing and a few very minor spots. The bluish vertical line along the centerfold is caused by our scanner and does not appear on the map itself.