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oai:orbis.library.yale.edu:12324099
2022-02-25
bacrb
03719cfm a2200373 a 4500
12324099
20220225173638.0
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141208q16341650enki a 0 eng d
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(OCoLC)ocn898537359
12324099
CtY-BA
eng
CtY-BA
898532875
Map of North America.
London,
not before 1634.
1 map :
pen and ink and watercolor, on parchment ;
21.9 x 42.8 cm, on sheet 23.5 x 45.8 cm
Relief shown pictorially.
Manuscript map of North America, drawn by a member of the Thames School of chartmakers, probably in the late 1630s. It may have been prepared in conjunction with a plan to establish a permanent colony in "Carolana," the name the English used for the region south of Virginia prior to 1663. Perhaps the most striking feature of the map is its depiction of "a branch of the South Sea, not yet discovered." This large body of water spans well across the continent, to just west of the Appalachian Mountains. As such, it promised access to American ports that would enable trade with China and the Far East.
The map is undated, but details of its features suggest a creation date in the late 1630s. The appearance of "Maryland" dates the map to no earlier than 1634. The map also employs the label "New Netherland," which suggests 1664 (the year the English captured the territory) as the latest possible date. Philip Burden posits that details of the map -- such as the description appended to Port Royal, "An excellent harbor" -- imply that it was prepared expressly for a party involved in the 1649 proposal by Lord Maltravers (Henry Frederick Howard, 15th Earl of Arundel) to establish a permanent colony in North Carolina ("Carolana"). Burden suggests that the map's purpose was twofold: to show the site of the proposed "Carolana" on the Roanoke and Chowan Rivers; and to show the presumed accessibility of the colony to the great "South Sea" beyond the Appalachian Mountains. Burden also suggests a connection to John Ferrar and his notable printed map of Virginia (see item 47 in Cumming's The Southeast in early maps, 1998). The famous Ferrar map also depicts a narrow North America with easy access to "the Sea of China and the Indies."
Burden believes that the map's calligraphy was the work of two distinct hands, probably by a major chartmaker of the Thames School with the aid of an apprentice. He suggests that the cartographer may be Nicolas Comberford, the most significant maker of charts of North America during this period.
Inscribed on the reverse: "This vellam and paper I brought with me out of England (as I remember) about 16 years past, the vellam decayes through the moisture of this place." Presumably, "this place" refers to a location in North America.
Manuscript map of North America, late 1630s. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund.
Public Domain
public domain
CtY-BA
http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/preservation/copyrightStatus/pub
Ferrar, John,
1590?-1657.
Mapp of Virginia discovered to ye hills.
Comberford, Nicholas,
-1673.
Arundel, Henry Frederick Howard, Earl of,
1608-1652.
British
America
Maps
Early works to 1800.
North America
Maps
Early works to 1800.
Maps.
lcgft
Manuscript maps.
lcgft
Watercolors.
gmgpc
Ink drawings.
gmgpc
View a selection of digital images in the Yale Center for British Art's online catalogue
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3996661