Geographical, Historical, Political, Philosophical and Mechanical Essays. The first, Containing an analysis Of a General map of the Middle British Colonies in America; And the Country of the Confederate Indians: A Description of the Face of the Country; The Boundaries of the Confederates; and the Maritime and Inland Navigations of the several rivers and lakes contained therein. By Lewis Evans. The Second edition
THE FRANK S. STREETER COPY of
“ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT MAPS
PUBLISHED IN AMERICA BEFORE INDEPENDENCE”
Philadelphia: Printed by B. Franklin, and D. Hall, 1755. Second edition of the text, with the second state of the map.
Quarto (9 3/16” x 6 15/16”, 234mm x 176mm): 4 binder’s blanks, π2 A-D4, 4 binder’s blanks [$2 signed]. 18 leaves, pp. [i-ii] iii-iv (title, blank, 2pp. preface), 1-32. With a folding engraved map.
Bound in modern crushed red morocco with a blind fillet border. On the spine, five raised bands. Title and author gilt to the second panel, date gilt to the tail. Presented in a blue cloth four-fold box.
A little soiling to the title-page. Trimmed at the lower edge, just touching the catch-word on p. 17. A few graphite marginalia. Some little tears at the folds, and a stub-tear to the map, which is otherwise a rich impression. Bookplate of Frank S. Streeter to the front paste-down.
Lewis Evans (ca. 1700–1756) was a Welsh geographer, who emigrated to North America in the 1730’s, spending a considerable portion of his life working in Philadelphia and traveling throughout the Middle Colonies (viz. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware). He had trained as a surveyor and became friends with Benjamin Franklin in 1736 after buying a book from him; it was Franklin who encouraged him to pursue his scientific and geographic interests and explore the East coast. Accompanied by Conrad Weiser, who had extensive connections with Native Americans in the region, and the botanist John Bartram, Evans collected material for a detailed map of New York, New Jersey and Delaware, which, later modified to include Pennsylvania, was published in 1749 as A Map of Pensilvania, New Jersey, New-York, and the Three Delaware Counties.
Evans’s best-known map, however, is A General Map of the Middle British Colonies in America, which spanned from the Falls of the Ohio to Narragansett Bay and from Virginia to Montreal. Though issued before the publication of the present item, it is often, as here, included with it. Evans in his analysis points out the advantages to the English colonies of the Ohio territory and vehemently urges a general study of that region and the ways by which it could be reached so that the French might be more easily driven out. He divides the eastern United States geomorphically for the first time, delineating the New England Upland, the Coastal Plain, the Fall Line, the Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, the Folded Appalachians, the Allegheny Front, and the Allegheny Plateau. The present second edition is, essentially, a page-for-page reprint of the first, published earlier the same year.
Schwartz and Ehrenberg anoint the map as above; along with Mitchell’s map of the same year (which, unlike Franklin’s Philadelphia production, was published in London), it paints the most authoritative picture of the impending theater of war. The present second state of the map is distinguished by the additional legend “The Lakes Cataraqui” above Lake Ontario.
From the collection of Frank Sherwin Streeter (1918–2006), purchased at his sale (“Important navigation, Pacific voyages, cartography, science”) at Christie’s New York 16 April 2007, lot 185 ($168,000). Streeter was the son of the legendary Americana collector Thomas Streeter, whose sale catalogue has become a reference work in its own right. Some of his collection he inherited from his father (those he did not he would often buy back), but other volumes he added over many decades until his death.
Church 1003; Evans 7411; Howes E 226; Pritchard & Taliaferro 34; Sabin 23175; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 165; Streeter II:819 (first edn.).
Item #JLR0582
Price: $195,000