Rare 1780 Faden Issue.
Rare first edition of this important early battle plan showing the position of the British and American troops following the Second Battle of Saratoga.
Following the first battle, British General Burgoyne took a defensive position while the Americans withdrew to wait for his next move. Burgoyne marched out and was attacked by General Gates on both flanks. While his army survived the battle, the consequences were quite severe. With his supplies running low and his escape blocked by the American, Burgoyne set up a final defensive camp near Saratoga, where he remained until he negotiated terms of surrender on Oct. 17, 1777. The battle was a major turning point in the American Revolution, as it was the American's first major victory and contributed significantly to the French decision to back the Americans.
Versions of the Map
This is the original edition engraved by Faden in 1780. The map shows the final encampment of Burgoyne's army, including troop placements and defenses across the Fish Kill from Saratoga and the American positions surrounding the British, including Gates's main army to the south of the Fish Kill, Morgan's riflemen in the woods to the west, and General Fellows troops blocking the escape route across the Hudson on the east.
This example appeared in Burgoyne's defense of his conduct during his disastrous campaign.
William Faden (1749-1836) was the most prominent London mapmaker and publisher of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. His father, William Mackfaden, was a printer who dropped the first part of his last name due to the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Apprenticed to an engraver in the Clothworkers' Company, he was made free of the Company in August of 1771. He entered into a partnership with the family of Thomas Jeffreys, a prolific and well-respected mapmaker who had recently died in 1771. This partnership lasted until 1776.
Also in 1776, Faden joined the Society of Civil Engineers, which later changed its name to the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers. The Smeatonians operated as an elite, yet practical, dining club and his membership led Faden to several engineering publications, including canal plans and plans of other new engineering projects.
Faden's star rose during the American Revolution, when he produced popular maps and atlases focused on the American colonies and the battles that raged within them. In 1783, just as the war ended, Faden inherited his father's estate, allowing him to fully control his business and expand it; in the same year he gained the title "Geographer in Ordinary to his Majesty."
Faden also commanded a large stock of British county maps, which made him attractive as a partner to the Ordnance Survey; he published the first Ordnance map in 1801, a map of Kent. The Admiralty also admired his work and acquired some of his plates which were re-issued as official naval charts.
Faden was renowned for his ingenuity as well as his business acumen. In 1796 he was awarded a gold medal by the Society of Arts. With his brother-in-law, the astronomer and painter John Russell, he created the first extant lunar globe.
After retiring in 1823 the lucrative business passed to James Wyld, a former apprentice. He died in Shepperton in 1826, leaving a large estate.