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Description

Rare map of America, which includes an extraodinary treatment of the NW Coast of North America, which has been attributed to Robert Morden.

The map shows a conjectural Northwest Coastline, which includes a number of islands and several lakes, including Aquinonbock, Lake of Isles and the The Great Lake of Thoago or Thoya. On the coastline, Desolation and Zapozipin Bays appear north of 60 degrees. This map and John Senex's 1719 map of America both include this information, although this example shows a truly remarkable countour of the Coastline, very nearly matching those of Cartographers after Cook and the Russian Discoveries nearly 100 years later. A comparison of the two maps shows that Senex was in fact copying Morden's work: /gallery/detail/26834

It is indeed curious that despite noting the islands and other features along the Northwest coast, Wagner gives no real explanation of the source of the information, which certainly predates the Russian discoveries and information furnished by Joseph De L'Isle and Philippe Buache. The map appears in the 1703 edition of Peter Heylyn's Cosmography. Mead Cain wrote in The Map Collector #57 that the source of the map was Robert Morden.

Condition Description
Repairs at top and bottom centerfold, with some restoration. Two minor tears at top and left corner and top right corner, repaired on verso.
Reference
McLaughlin 183
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.