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Description

One of the earliest obtainable English maps of the colonies. Beginning in the 1670s, the English fortunes in North America took a dramatic turn upward, resulting in a booming interest in the British American Colonies and, in turn, the issuance of maps to satisfy this interest. This map appeared in Modern's rare Atlas Terestris, published as early as 1687. While the Morden maps used in the Atlas Terestris were also issued in Morden's Geography Rectified a few years earlier, this is the first appearance of many of the American maps, which are either newly issued or revised for the atlas edition. This General Map of the Colonies names the 5 Great Lakes (Michigan is Lake Illinovik) and notes each of the primary British Colonies. Approximately 30 Coastal Placenames appear south of Long Island to the Mouth of the Mississippi. The Course of the Mississippi (R. Spriito Sancto al Rio Grande) is of note, taking a very direct northerly route, with a terminus well west of its true location. A mythical set of mountains is shown along the western banks of the Mississippi and a similar mythical range extends from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi River. A nice example of this scarce map, which has not appeared in a dealer catalogue since 1994. Cumming 109; Karpinski p111. Minor loss margin in the lower right corner, far from the map image.

Robert Morden Biography

Robert Morden (d. 1703) was a British map and globe maker. Little is known about his early life, although he was most likely apprenticed to Joseph Moxon. By 1671, Morden was working from the sign of the Atlas on Cornhill, the same address out of which Moxon had previously worked. Most famous for his English county maps, his geography texts, and his wall maps, Morden entered into many partnerships during his career, usually to finance larger publishing projects.