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Description

Rare separately issued broadside, which includes the first printed reference to George Washington. Printed in London by Henry Overton Jr., the broadside was intended to provide the British public with news of the recent skirmishes between the French and English in the American Colonies and inflame the English public to the reported French "depredations" in the Colonies.

The map shows the British colonies from North Carolina into Canada, including the Great Lakes. The text panels describe the actions of a 22-year old Lieutenant Colonel George Washington in a battle with the French along the Ohio River, near modern day Pittsburgh. The site of this battle (marked with crossed swords), along with the note "Here C. Washington engag'd ye French 1754," appears at the confluence of the Yonongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. A contemporary account of the Battle of Jumonville Glen, as it came to be called, is set forth in the side text, along with a vitriolic rant against the French encroachments and other improper actions in the region. The Battle of Jumonville is generally considered to be the first battle of the French and Indian War.

As noted on page 122 of "Washington As Surveyor And Map-Maker" (Philip Lee Phillips, Chief, Division of Maps, Library of Congress) in Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine (Vol LV, No. 3, March 1921), pp 115-133:

The [map] "An accurate of the English Colonies in America, bordering on the River Ohio," measuring 13 1/2 by 18 1/2 inches with border, is the earliest literary production in which Washington is mentioned. Scanning the map you will find noted between the "Ohio or Bell River" and the "Monongohela R," the statement, "Here C. Washington engag'd ye French, 1754." The "C" evidently is an abbreviation of "Colonel." The map is bordered on each side by an historical statement in which Washington figures. . .

As noted by Phillips above, Overton's broadside map is the first printed map to show George Washington's name in print and the earliest printed reference to George Washington of any kind. This is the second state of the map, with the title changed from "English Colonies" to "British Colonies" and slight revision to the advertising and credit section of the text at the bottom right corner of the broadside. The broadside is undated, and while it is not possible to determine the exact date of publication, it was almost certainly issued in the Fall of 1754, as a reduced version of the map (without text at the sides or reference to Washington in the map itself) was issued in the Universal Magazine in December, 1754, unquestionably based upon Overton's map.

Overton's map, detailing in text and on its face Washington's first military command, provides one of the earliest pieces of the mountainous public record which Washington would ultimately leave as well as being very important contemporary documentation of the beginning of the French and Indian War.

The first edition is known to be held by the John Carter Brown Library and the Library of Congress. The second edition is held by the John Carter Brown Library and Library of Congress (lacking text panels). Yale would also appear to have a copy of the second edition.

 

Condition Description
Several minor tears. Backed with Japan paper.
Henry Overton Biography

The Overton family was a prominent part of the printing, and mapmaking, industry in London in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. John Overton (1639/40-1713) was the son of a tailor who apprenticed to Stationer Thomas Gould. He was made free of the Stationers’ Company in 1663. Two years later, London was struck by the Great Plague of 1665-6. Peter Stent, a leading printseller, succumbed and Overton took over his shop. This burned in the Great Fire of 1666, but Overton had rebuilt by 1669, when he advertised his wares from the White Horse on Snow Hill. Overton specialized in prints, portraits, and especially maps and topographical views.

John was likely married three times and had seven children. His eldest, Thomas, emigrated to America. His second oldest, Henry, was executor of John’s will when the latter died in 1713. Henry (1675/6-1751) acquired his father’s stock in 1707 and ran the shop until his own death in 1751. He published many maps, most focusing on the British Isles. His shop and stock passed to his nephew, another Henry, son of John’s fourth son, James.

Henry the Elder’s brother, Philip (ca. 1681-1745), was also a printer and mapmaker. Philip served as his father’s apprentice and was made free of the Stationers’ in 1702. His father set him up in the trade in 1707 and by 1710 he was working from the sign of the Golden Buck in Fleet Street. Philip specialized in fine arts prints, including Hogarth’s Hudibras set (1726), but he also sold many maps. At his death in 1745 he left his shop to his widow, Mary. She ran the shop and then married James Sayer, whose brother, Robert, became Mary’s assistant. He took over the business in 1748 and became a famous purveyor of maps, charts, and views.

Back at the sign of the White Horse, Henry the Younger continued the family business, expanding their stock to include a large collection of landscape views. He often partnered with Robert Sayer. He continued in business until at least 1764, when he drops out of the historical record.