"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...", 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. Each is finely engraved with rhumb lines, compass roses, sailing ships, soundings and decorative cartouches. This is the second edition with a new dedication to John Haldane of Gleneagles and the coat of arms removed. The engraver in this edition is unknown.

References: Kapp (MCC-73) #27.

Condition: B

Contemporary outline color on a lightly toned sheet with a fleur-de-lis watermark, minor offsetting. The maps were printed on the same sheet but then separated, and subsequently rejoined, partially obscuring the borders. A 1/2" tear at left has been closed on verso with old paper, and a chip in the bottom left corner of the sheet has been repaired with non-archival tape.