George Grierson:  A New Map of the North Parts of America claimed by France under ye Names of Louisiana, Mississipi, Canada and New France with ye Adjoyning Territories of England and Spain . . . [Rare Grierson Edition--Published in Dublin]

	(Click Image To Enlarge)

Title: A New Map of the North Parts of America claimed by France under ye Names of Louisiana, Mississipi, Canada and New France with ye Adjoyning Territories of England and Spain . . . [Rare Grierson Edition--Published in Dublin]

Map Maker: George Grierson

Description:

Extemely rare George Grierson map of North America, copied from Herman Moll's 2-sheet map of North America, published ca 1730 in Dublin.

Grierson's map of North America is one of only a few large format maps of America published in Dublin during the Colonial period.  While at first appearance, Grierson's map of North America appears to be from the same pair of copper plates as was used for Moll's map of the same title, even the most cursory examination of the maps quickly reveals that Grierson's map comes from a new plate.  A few examples of the differences include:  (1) different dedication cartouche above the title,  and (2) the lack of the large village seen at the top left. A close inspection of the two maps shows that while Grierson was clearly trying to copy the Moll map, there are many other subtle differences.

Grierson's map is of the utmost rarity, this being the first example of the map we have ever seen on the market.    As described below, Grierson is known to have primarily relied upon re-engraving maps published by Herman Moll, a curious irony, given that in this period, the English map makers were still actively coping many maps originally published in Amsterdam and Paris.  The lack of understanding of the uniqueness and rarity of Grierson's work is perhaps best illustrated by the recent auction catalog entry for this example of the map in December 2009. 

As noted before, this is an entirely different engraving.  For example, in cataloguing this map in the Lowery Collection, Philip Lee Phillips also did not identify the difference in the two maps, also believing the map to have been from the plate as the Herman Moll editions of the map:

The only detail in which this impression differs from the one described in title 303 [Moll Map] is the cartouche over the title "To Ambrose Philips Esqr Register to the Prerogative court this map is most humbly Dedicated by yor. humble servt. G. Grierson."

In The Cartographer and the Literati - Herman Moll and his Intellectual Circle’ Edwin Mellen Press, 1997, Dennis Reinhartz  notes  that [t]wo editions of [Moll's Large Atlas] The World Described... were done by the Dublin publisher George Grierson... all of the maps in the Irish editions were completely re-engraved, even to the point of understandably having been rededicated to contemporary Irish notables. The Grierson atlas had new and/or changed cartouches, dedications, details, and comments. It also showed obvious erasers and additions, and some of the maps were updated.'    While Reinhartz has identified evidence of "2 editions of  . . . The World Described. . .," Ashley Baynton-Williams, one of the foremost authority on maps published in the British Isles, reports that he is not aware of the existence of a single example of a complete Grierson edition of the The World Described, in any public or private collection.  Mr. Baynton Williams did identify that the Grierson/Moll edition of the map offered here is known in 2 states, one with the dedication cartouche above the title cartouche and one without.  Mr. Baynton-Williams reports that while he believes that the edition with dedication cartouche pre-dates the edition without it, there is no definitive evidence to suggest that the reverse is true.  He also reports that Henry Stevens wrote a lengthy unpublished discertation on The World Described..., which included a discussion of the differences between the Grierson and Moll maps, but unfortunately Stevens' work is not well known on this topic.

George Grierson (1680-1753) was the King’s Printer in Ireland, a prolific publisher, and was responsible for an edition of “The English Pilot. The Fourth Book ...”.  The detailed charts contained therein were attributed to the English mapmaker, Samuel Thornton, and were engraved for the pirate Dublin edition by James Barlow. A re-issue of the Dublin edition was published by Boulter Grierson in 1767. George Grierson also published a number of other maps and atlases, although they were essentially pirate versions of existing English models, often after Herman Moll.

Herman Moll's map was originally published in 1718, following the publication of Delisle's 1718 map of the Mississippi Valley.   Although Moll appears at first to copy Delisle's 1718 Carte de la Louisiane et cours du Mississipi . . ., Moll actually enlarges Delisle and attacks the veracity of the French claims in America as reflected in Delisle's map.  As noted by Cumming:

Moll calls upon the English noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants interested in Carolina to note the 'Incroachments' of the French map on their 'Properties' and on the land of their Indian allies. The map presents details of the Southeast found in no other printed map. The chief source of this information is a large, unsigned, undated manuscript map in the Public Record Office, from which Moll took much information on trading paths, Indian tribes, French, Spanish, and English forts and settlements, rivers, and other topographical data."

In The Mapping of the American Southwest, Reinhart notes

Moll's mapping of Texas and northern Mexico is both informative and appealing. He was best at coastal geography, depicting with some accuracy the coastal features, barrier islands (e.g., Padre Island), and identified rivers emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. The rivers often continue deep into the interior, where there is less detail, but Moll does indicate various Indian tribes.... But most intriguing are Moll's notations. For example, he mentions several times the Spanish cattle gone wildthe famous Texas longhorns of later yearsby noting 'Country full of Beeves' or 'This Country has vast and Beautiful Plains, all level and full of Greens, which afford Pasture to an infinite number of Beeves and other Creatures' in East Texas near the 'R. Salado.' Nearby also is noted, 'Many Nations [of Indians] on ye heads of this Branches [of several rivers] who use Horses and Trade with the French and Spaniards.'

Moll voraciously defends the English claim to the territory east of the Mississippi and gives back part of Florida to Spain; in the Advertisement text, Moll states: All within the Blew Colour of this Map, shows what is Claim'd by France under the Names of Louisiana, Mississipi &c. According to a French Map published at Paris with the French King's Privelege. The Yellow Colour what they allow ye English. The Red, Spain....

The Grierson edition was likely issued separately and also bound into atlases, although there are no complete examples of Grierson's copy of Moll's large atlas identified in OCLC or otherwise known to have survived.

Condition Description: Minor discoloration at folds. Minor restoration along top Margin, with a bit of loss at the margins.

References: McLaughlin, California as an Island 197; Leighly 180; Cummming, p.43-44; Reinhartz, "Herman Moll, Geographer: An Early Eighteenth-Century European View of the American Southwest," pp. 32-33 in Reinhartz & Colley (eds.),

Related Categories:
Maps of North America
Maps of the United States