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Description

Rare  map of the United States, issued prior to the resolution of the Oregon Question, Annexation of Texas and the completion of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

This would appear to be the first state of the map and the only state to focus on the numerous American boundary lines and disputes and the only edition to include the extra section of map at the upper left, covering much of British Columbia.

The most salient feature of the map are the multiple boundary lines, illustrating:

  • Original US Boundary with England in 1783 (blue)
  • Supposed boundary of Ancient Louisiana, according to the Patent of Crozat in 1712 and part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1805 (purple)
  • Florida Treaties with the US in 1819 and 1828 (gold)
  • Convention between US and England in 1818, setting the northern border from Lake Superior to the Rocky Mountains (orange)
  • Line proposed by Great Britain in 1828 to settle Oregon-British Columbia boundary at Columbia River (red)
  • Line proposed by the US in 1824 and 1828 to settle the Oregon-British Columbia boundary (green)
  • Boundary proposed between Mexico and the US by the US in 1835, giving the northern part of Upper California and part of the future Republic of Texas to the US (yellow)
  • Treaty between Russia and the United States in 1824, the source of the 54° 40" boundary claim with British Columbia (grey)
  • Republic of Texas (thin red line)

This is the first time we have every seen the Crozat Treaty line articulated on a printed map, which would have mean that the Louisiana Purchase transferred Texas and a portion of Coahuila and Nuevo Leon to the United States.

Rarity

The map is extremely rare.  We note only the example in the New York Public Library

Reference
78
James Wyld Biography

James Wyld Sr. (1790-1836) was a British cartographer and one of Europe’s leading mapmakers. He made many contributions to cartography, including the introduction of lithography into map printing in 1812.

William Faden, another celebrated cartographer, passed down his mapmaking business to Wyld in 1823. The quality and quantity of Faden’s maps, combined with Wyld’s considerable skill, brought Wyld great prestige.

Wyld was named geographer to Kings George IV and William IV, as well as HRH the Duke of York. In 1825, he was elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers. He was one of the founding members of the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. Also in 1830, his son, James Wyld Jr., took over his publishing house. Wyld Sr. died of overwork on October 14, 1836.

James Wyld Jr. (1812-87) was a renowned cartographer in his own right and he successfully carried on his father’s business. He gained the title of Geographer to the Queen and H.R.H. Prince Albert. Punch (1850) described him in humorous cartographic terms, “If Mr. Wyld’s brain should be ever discovered (we will be bound he has a Map of it inside his hat), we should like to have a peep at it, for we have a suspicion that the two hemispheres must be printed, varnished, and glazed, exactly like a pair of globes.”