1755 Carte de la Virginie et du Maryland...
Carte de la Virginie et du Maryland dresse sur la grande carte Angloise de Mrs. Josue Fry et Pierre Jefferson
By: Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson
Date: 1755 (published) Paris
Dimensions: 19 x 25.25 (48.25 x 64 cm)
A first State example of Robert De Vaugondy's French edition of the Fry-Jefferson map of Virginia and Maryland. It is identified as such by the line delineating the Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary extending to just east of the Monongahela River.
A noteworthy map with regards to the development of cartographic knowledge of the American interior during the mid-18th century. This first map to accurately depict the Blue Ridge Mountains and the first to lay down the colonial road system of Virginia. Thus, the map shows excellent topographical information from Delaware through western Virginia, presenting the development, transportation and economic potential of the mid-Atlantic English colonies in a wonderfully graphic manner. Numerous plantations are plotted throughout, recognized by family names of the era. Observing the map from end-to-end, one can't help but notice the strong influence of English names that makeup the earliest counties of the colony.
Commissioned by the colonial government of Virginia, this is the first accurate map of the colony beyond the Chesapeake Bay region and into the Appalachian Mountains. Joshua Fry, Thomas Jefferson's tutor, and Peter Jefferson, Thomas' father, based the map on their own surveys of the interior together with other first-hand information, producing a superior map that extends from the Chesapeake in the east beyond the mountains in the west.
This map was thus a watershed in the history of the mapping of Virginia and remained the prototype for the region for the second half of the century. The first edition of this map was published in London in 1751 in a very large size. Its impact was greatly increased by this reduced French edition, which came out a mere four years after the first English edition. In fact, it is said that Thomas Jefferson hung the smaller version at Monticello as the English copy of his father's map was too large.
Condition: This map is in A condition, mostly uncolored save for some faint outlining of the state boundaries. Some light stains and some mottling to paper is apparent.
Inventory #12296
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