Catalog Archive
Auction 169, Lot 119

"A Map of Hudsons Bay and Straits", Jefferys, Thomas

Subject: Eastern Canada, Greenland

Period: 1756 (published)

Publication: A Compendium of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages

Color: Black & White

Size:
8.3 x 5.8 inches
21.1 x 14.7 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.

An uncommon little map including most of Greenland through Hudson Bay. It emphasizes the English expeditions in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. Notes the discoveries in the vicinity of Repulse Bay and Wager River by Capt. Middleton in 1742 and those of Capt. Smith along the coast from Buttons Bay to Chesterfield Inlet in 1747. It also locates a spurious New Discovered Sea in Labrador. Title in a small forested cartouche. Published in Tobias Smollett's A Compendium of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages.

References: Kershaw #452.

Condition: B+

Issued folding with a few faint spots.

Estimate: $120 - $150

Sold for: $90

Closed on 9/12/2018

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