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Revolutionary War Era Map of the Chesapeake

This is the second state of the Mount & Page edition of this important early English Chart of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bay region, based upon the seminal work of Augustine Hermann and several successors.

This state of the map would have been one of the maps of choice for navigating the Chesapeake and Mid-Atlantic Waters during the American Revolution, appearing in Mount & Page's English Pilot, Fourth Book, the most widely distributed sea atlas for American waters published in the 18th Century.

Augustine Hermann's map of the Chesapeake region was the most important and influential map of the region in the second half of the 17th Century and a legendary rarity.  Published in London in 1673, the map is one of the earliest accurate depictions of the Chesapeake Bay region. Herrman, born in Prague and later a trader and diplomat for New Netherland, proposed mapping Maryland and Virginia in exchange for land. Granted 5,000 acres on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Herrman established Bohemia Manor.

Herrman began his map in 1660, after a diplomatic mission to Maryland in 1659 where he observed much of the colony. His experience as a trader and his knowledge of Dutch maritime traditions, combined with indigenous and settler knowledge, allowed him to create a highly detailed map. The map served as a basis for many late-17th and early-18th century maps, improving upon John Smith’s 1612 work. It was used extensively in boundary disputes and became the standard for understanding the Chesapeake Bay region.

The first edition of this map was originally issued by John Thornton and William Fisher in 1689, with revisions over the course of the next 100 years, becoming the most used English navigational chart for the region.  Mount & Page first issued the second edition of the map in 1737, which was incorporated in the English Pilot, Fourth Book.