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Description

Early map of the British Colonies and the whole of North America, shortly after the conclusion of the French & Indian War and on the eve of Revolution.

Louisiana is a French possession and a assive New Mexico and New Albion are Spanish Possessions which dominate the West. The Western Sea is noted opposite the Straits Juan De Fuca, although without a coast line in the north and east. The River of the West also remains, with an unbroken course from D'Aguilar's discoveries on the NW Coast to the Mississippi River. Teguayo & Quivira appear, although now shown as a singly unit in the region which would roughly correlate with Utah. The Snowy Mountains in California are shown, along with several apocrypal rivers, including the Carmel (Rio Colorado). Drake's landing near San Francisco is noted. Some curiously named Blue Mountains appear in the Northern Baja, not far from San Diego. A number of settlments are shown on the Rio Grande, including a note regarding the Apaches of Seven Rivers. Many Indian names in the interior, including Kansez, Black Padoucas, Padoucas, Panimatia, Eastern Sioux, Outaouas, Outagamis, and Moscoutops. Many other early interesting features. The British Colonial claims on the East Coast run to the Mississippi River.

Thomas Kitchin Biography

Thomas Kitchin was a British cartographer and engraver. Born in Southwark, England, Kitchin was the eldest of several children. He was apprenticed to the map engraver Emanuel Bowen from 1732 to 1739, and he married Bowen’s daughter, Sarah, in December 1739. By 1741 Kitchin was working independently and in 1746 he began taking on apprentices at his firm. His son Thomas Bowen Kitchin was apprenticed to him starting in 1754. By 1755 Kitchin was established in Holborn Hill, where his firm produced all kinds of engraved materials, including portraits and caricatures. He married his second wife, Jane, in 1762. Beginning in 1773 Kitchin was referred to as Hydrographer to the King, a position his son also later held. He retired to St. Albans and continued making maps until the end of his life.

A prolific engraver known for his technical facility, clean lettering, and impressive etched decorations, Kitchin produced several important works throughout his career. He produced John Elphinstone’s map of Scotland in 1746, and the first pocket atlas of Scotland, Geographia Scotiae, in 1748/1749. He co-published The Small English Atlas in 1749 with another of Bowen’s apprentices, Thomas Jefferys. He produced The Large English Atlas serially with Emanuel Bowen from 1749 to 1760. The latter was the most important county atlas since the Elizabethan era, and the first real attempt to cover the whole country at a large scale. In 1755 Kitchin engraved the important John Mitchell map of North America, which was used at the peace treaties of Paris and Versailles. In 1770 he produced the twelve-sheet road map England and Wales and in 1769–70 he produced Bernhard Ratzer’s plans of New York. In 1783, he published The Traveller’s Guide through England and Wales.