Finely executed map of the Sea of Marmora and contiguous regions, published by Andrew Dury in London in 1770.
The map is based upon an original manuscript map drawn by Paul Wilhelm Bohn of Denmark, while in the service of Prince Francis II Rákóczi, a Transylvanian prince living in exile in Ottoman Turkey.
The map notes that it was based upon a map drawn by P.D. Bohn, which came into the hands of Sir James Porter, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. Porter was a business associate of Lord Carteret, and in 1741 joined the staff of the English embassy to Austria, in Vienna. He would later become British ambassador to the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul, where he served from 1747 to 1762. During his time in Constantinople, Porter wrote papers on astronomy and geology, as well as publishing his memoirs, a detailed and comprehensive description of life in Turkey. Upon leaving Constantinople, Porter became British minister in Brussels from 1762-1765.
While the direct source of the map (James Porter) is known, we have been unable to find any meaningful discussion of P.D. Bohn, who would seem to have been a secretary and confidant to Prince Francis II Rákóczi, during the latter's exile in Turkey (actual name Paul Wilhelm Bohn). The present map was of sufficient influence that it was subsequently copied by Johannes Van Keulen, who referred to the original as an English map by P.D. Bohn. Andrew Dury notes that Bohn was "in the Service of . . . the Queen of Hungary and Bohemia," which would have been Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina, who ruled from 1740 to 1780 and was the last ruler of the House of Habsburg. However, quite ironically, it would seem that the map was likely constructed in 1731 by Bohn, at a time when Bohn was in the service of Rákóczi, an enemy of the Habsburg rulers.
Jean-Jacques Barthélemy and Jean Denis Barbié du Bocage mention in their work on the Travels of Anacharsis the Younger in Greece that JBB D'Anville had been critical of a map of the Sea of Marmora, drawn in 1731 by M. Bohn, while in the service of a Prince Ragozzi. The Danish National Archives records holding a chart entitled " Canal de Constantinople, Mer de Marmora et Canal de la Mer Noire, Leves en 1731 par Mr. Bohn, ingenieur du Prince Ragozzi . . . Colored. 92.2 x 48.0 cm." (a relatively close match in size, to the Porter-Dury map.).
The Prince Ragozzi referenced above is almost certainly the Transylvanian Prince Francis II Rákóczi (1676-1735). In August 1704, Rákóczi was elected Prince of Transylvania at the Diet of Gyulafehervar. Rákóczi would go on to serve as the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Austrian Habsburgs, 1703-11. Brought up under Austrian supervision, Rákóczi was arrested when his secret dealings with the French were initially uncovered in 1700. Sent to the fortress of Wiener Neustadt, it was expected that his trial would end with his death, but, with the aid of his wife, he managed to escape (whether in women's clothes or not is unclear), fleeing to Poland.
When the War of the Spanish Succession broke out in 1704, the Hungarian rebellion began, but it floundered when the Battle of Blenheim made French support evaporate. In 1711, Rákóczi again went into exile, after refusing an offer of clemency in exchange for swearing an oath of allegiance to the Habsburgs. Rákóczi was offered the Polish Crown twice, supported by Tsar Peter I of Russia. He turned the offers down, though, and remained in Poland until 1712, where he was the honored guest of the Polish aristocracy. For a while he lived in Gdańsk under the pseudonym of Count of Sáros. He then traveled to England (where Queen Anne refused to receive him under pressure from the Austrian Court) and later to Paris, where he joined the court of Louis XIV in Versailles in 1713 (again living under the Saros alias).
In 1717, Rákóczi was invited by Sultan Ahmed III to move to Constantinople, where he received the protection of the Sultan. In 1720, Rákóczi settled in Rodosto (now Tekirdağ, Turkey) on the north coast of the Sea of Marmora (about 100 miles west of Constantinople), which saw the settlement of a number of Hungarian exiles. Rákóczi became the leader of a Hungarian Colony in the region, which included a number of generals and officers of Rákóczi's army and members of his court. Rákóczi remained in Rodosto for 15 years, until his death in 1735.
In 1727, Rákóczi apparently became acquainted with Paul Wilhelm Bohn, a "Danish Officer", who served as Rákóczi's liaison with Constantinople. Bohn is referred to variously as a secretary, engineer and confidant in various English language publications. Bohn may also have "betrayed" Rákóczi toward the end of his life.
In 1755, The Critical Review or Annals of Literature, Vol 2 reports Porter's answers to queries put to him by Dr. Maty, F.R.S. (also reported in the Philosophical Transactions for 1755), including . . . "Whether there are any original maps of the Turkish dominions, drawn from actual surveys?" Porter's is reported to have answered that " . . . they had not above three or four maps, one of Persia, one of the Bosphorus, and one of the Euxine." Whether one of these is a reference to the Bohn map is impossible to state with certainty, but it must be assumed that the map pre-existed Porter's arrival in Constantinople in 1747 and that the legacy of the map was sufficiently vague that Porter was misled to believe that Bohn had prepared the map while in the service of Maria Theresa of Austria.
It may reasonably be inferred from the foregoing that Rákóczi directed Bohn to prepare the chart at a time when the Hungarian Colony was feeling some level of security and autonomy, perhaps at a time when Rákóczi was lobbying the Sultan to undertake a second Turkish-Transylvanian war against the Habsburgs.
Large inset map entitled: A Map of the Coasts of Grece and Archipelago taken from the Best Authorities.
Full Map Title is:
A map of the Propontis or Sea of Marmora: with its two Streights, viz Bosphorus and Hellespont wherein the Capes, Gulfs, Harbours, Towns, Villages, Cottages, Fountains and Ruins upon those Coasts are exactly described, Done from a Draught made upon the spot by P.D. Bohn, who died Chief Engineer of Artillery in the Service of Her Imperial Majesty the Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, now in the possession of Sr. Jas. Porter.
Second Map title is:
To Sir James Porter, Many Years His Majesty's Ambassador at the Ottoman Porte, This Map of the Propontis or Sea of Marmora, is most humbly dedicated by his most Obliged and Obedient Servant, A. Dury.
Rarity
The map is very rare.
We locates copies in the Izard Atlas (College of Charleston), Bibliotheque Nationale De France, British Library, and University of Bern.
This is the second example we have offered for sale (1992-2025).
Andrew Dury (fl. 1766-1777?) was a British map and print publisher who operated out of Duke's Court on St. Martin's Lane in London. He was an accomplished mapmaker but substantially less successful than contemporaries such as Thomas Jefferys or William Faden, and his maps are relatively quite rare. Dury's name is most commonly associated with Rennell's large Indian maps. Dury was also responsible for Revolutionary War era plans of Boston and Philadelphia, as well as a series of maps related to the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-74.