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Description

Rare pictorial map of Berks County, Pennsylvania, drawn by J.R. Rowe.

The map is well researched and attractively executed, providing a marvelous historical overview of Berks County in Colonial times.

The "severe campaign" is a phrase used by George Washington in correspondence on several occasions early in the Revolutionary War.

The Pennsylvania Archives (mapsofpa.com) entry for this map reads as follows:

1777.29 A NEW, ACCURATE & IMPROVED MAP OF BERKS COUNTY IN PENNSYLVANIA...Layd down from the most certain information and the best of authorities, during the severe campaign...anno...1776...and bearing No Allegiance to the Crown. Text in the left hand corner reads "True Turnpike Distances from Reading" and lists certain landmarks. The middle left corner reads "this Country was organized in the year 1752 from lands aquired in Indian Purchases June 7, 1684~Moungougsins Rles., Sept. 7, 1732~Sckuykill Indians, Oct. 25, 1736~the Five Nations, Aug. 22, 1749~The Nine Nations." Far left corner edge reads "Moft humbly compiled and executed by J.R. Rowe MCMLXXVII." This map was seen for sale as a reproduction and its authenticity has not been verified.

Curiously, our copy is dated a year earlier (1926). We see no evidence that the map dates to 1777, as suggested above.