Antiques for Sale > Prints and Maps

M-10821: (Image : 19 3/4 x 19'') ''CARTE GENERALE DE L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE''  Paris : Crepy Family, c. 1756.  Engraved map with original hand-coloring. There is faint toning along the centerfold with repairs on the verso and a few light stains.

A French edition of Popple's important key map of 1733. This edition was made after the Crepy family acquired the plate from LeRouge, and the title was changed to reflect the outbreak of the French-Indian War in 1756. The map is well-detailed, with excellent representations of topography and waterways, particularly the Mississippi - though a large spurious lake  is connected to a tributary of the river. The right side of the map is filled with small inset maps of important cities in the Americas, including Boston, New York, Charleston, St. Augustine, Port Royal, Cartagena, and Porto Bello. A decorative cartouche, describing natives and trading occupies the lower left corner.

This map depicts the region of North America from the East Coast westward to the ''Source of the Mississippi'' (present-day Minnesota) & ''S. Fee'' (present-day Santa Fe, New Mexico). It includes all the Caribbean, western Mexico, Central America & northern South America. Popple's map (first published in London, 1733) was the first English map to name all Thirteen Colonies. It was also considered the finest delineation of North America to date, even though it contained some geographic distortions and omissions.