Rare First Edition

"A Draft of the Golden & Adjacent Islands, with Part of ye Isthmus of Darien... [on sheet with] A New Map of ye Isthmus of Darien in America, the Bay of Panama, the Gulph of Vallona or St. Michael...", Hacke, William (Capt.)

Two maps on one sheet. The upper map shows the north coast of Panama with part of the San Blas Islands and features the short-lived colony of New Edinburgh. The Company of Scotland established this ill-fated trading settlement on the Darien coast of Panama in 1698. The colony was well located with a good harbor but within a year the colony failed amid devastating illness and attack by Spanish galleons. The failure of the Darien Scheme (as it became known) contributed greatly to the crippling of the entire Scottish economy that eventually led to the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament and the 1707 Act of Union with England. The lower map, attributed to Hacke and Robert Morden, shows the whole isthmus of Panama with part of Costa Rica and Colombia. Both maps were finely engraved by Herman Moll with rhumb lines, compass roses, sailing ships, soundings and decorative cartouches. This is the rare first edition.

References: Kapp (MCC-73) #27.

Condition: B+

A nice impression on paper with a "P" watermark, light soiling, and toning mostly confined to the centerfold and edges of the sheet. There is a 2 mm hole and a couple of tiny adjacent holes in the top border of the lower map.