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Description

A French & Indian War Era Rarity

Rare map of the British Colonies and French Dominions in North America, illustrating the British antagonism and efforts to inflame the public against French territorial claims in North America.

Published by Thomas Bowles and John Bowles, this map provides a fantastic overview of the British territorial claims on the eve of the French & Indian War (Seven Years War). The explanation to the right of the key delineates a color code to identify 3 regions:

  • English Colonies in yellow
  • French Colonies in green
  • "Countries belonging to England Resigned to it or Inhabited by it's Subjects or Allies, but disputed by France."

In addition, French forts are labeled but not colored. "The red line drawn crop the Provinces of New York, New England, and Nova Scotia, shew the French Encroachments in these Northern Colonies."

In the "Short Narrative . . . " below the cartouche, a detailed list of the French Encroachments is given, with the list including claims on the Mississippi River and in the Carolinas and Georgia.

The map itself would seem to have been drawn from John Mitchell's map of 1755, although this map extends a bit father south, showing South Florida as an Archipelago.

The map is quite scarce on the market, and is known primarily through a reproduction in the Pennsylvania Archives by Linn & Egle. We have dated our copy of the map based upon the dating given for the John Carter Brown copy of the map, which was acquired from a donor in 1944. OCLC lists copies at JCB, British Library (no date given) and the Library of Congress (dating the map 1758). There may also be a copy in the Pennsylvania State Archives, manuscript division. All copies except JCB copy are dissected and laid on linen.

Condition Description
Original color. Repaired fold split and some restoration within the printed image, including some facsimile work near Cape Cod and in the imprint.
Reference
McCorckle 756.2.