Sign In

- Or use -
Forgot Password Create Account
This item has been sold, but you can enter your email address to be notified if another example becomes available.
Description

Extremely rare separately issued map of North America, The Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean, issued by William Herbert in London.

The Advertisement in the lower right corner notes that the chart was originally drawn and engraved by the late Mr. John Senex, F.R.S. and since corrected from latter inprovements, especially the interior parts of North America . . . . The map is richly annotated with information both within North America an in the Atlantic, including notes on La Salle's explorations and the headwaters of the Mississippi (undiscovered by European Explorers but known to extend to a marshy region at 50 degrees latitude according to Indian Sources). There are many forts, both English and French, as well as Fort St. John on the Rio Bravo. There are also some fascinating notes in the Atlantic regarding the location of little known (mythical?) islands and other details.

The map is extremely rare. While references to the Senex original can be found, there is no record of the map appearing on the market in the past 25 years and this example of the Herbert is the first to appear since offered by Jonathan Potter in 1997.

Condition Description
Minor abrasion to the printed surface and one repaired tear in the upper right corner.
William Herbert Biography

The English mapmaker William Herbert (1718-95) traveled to India in about 1748 as a purser's clerk. Herbert's cartographic publishing started to take form in the late 1740s, when he set up a map and print shop on London Bridge. In 1758, with the encouragement of the East India Company, he introduced a new pilot guide, A New Directory for the East Indies. Herbert gathered superior sources than those used in Mount & Page's The Third Book, consulting such works as Mannevillette's Neptune Oriental, as well as the navigator William Nicholson and the cartographer Samuel Dunn. He often worked with colleagues, including Jefferys, Sayers, Dury, and Andrews, and is recorded as a seller of the famous Anti-Gallican map. In 1776 he retired, having apparently made a fortune. His business was carried on by Henry Gregory Sr.