Moll, Herman

Estimate

9,000 - 12,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye continent of North America containing Newfoundland, New Scotland, New England, New York, New Jersey, Pensilvania, Maryland, Virginia and Carolina. According to the newest and most exact observations. London: "Printed and Sold by Tho: Bowles ... John Bowles & Son ... I. King at ye Globe in ye Poultry near Stocks Market", 1715 [but after 1730]
paper, ink, paint

Copper engraved map (overall size: 41 1/2 x 24 7/8 in.; 1,054 x 630 mm), two joined sheets, period outline hand-coloring, Beaver inset with later full hand-coloring.

Expert restoration, minor fingersoiling.

Literature

Cumming, British Maps pp.6-12; Cumming, Southeast in Early Maps p. 158; Degrees of Latitude 19; Reinhartz, Herman Moll Geographer pp.18-36; Schwartz and Ehrenberg, Mapping of America pp.138, 144; Stevens and Tree, Comparative Cartography 55 (e)

Catalogue Note

THE FAMOUS BEAVER MAP The most striking feature of the map is the large vignette which gives the map its popular name. It consists of an early view of Niagara Falls, with a colony of beavers at work in the foreground. Pritchard holds that the beaver "was an appropriate image for the North American map for two reasons: the animal's importance to the fur trade, and its industrious nature."