Rare First Edition of Morden's Geography Rectified
This is an example of the rare first edition of Morden's important pocket world atlas, containing an extensive selection of Morden's maps of the world and its regions. The information Morden provides in the atlas is fascinating, describing the regions of the world in-depth, providing a fascinating, though not always accurate, look at the cultures, geographies, and peoples of the world.
The maps that Morden chose to include in the atlas provide a wonderful focus to this work. These maps are well-designed and intricately detailed, showing the cities, rivers, mountains, and other features of the various regions of the world.
Contents
The work is complete with the sixty-three maps enumerated in the catalog provided. Particularly notable maps are described here.
- A General Map of the Earth
- This is Morden's fabulous world map, projected in two hemispheres. America is well outlined in the Eastern portion, with many colonies named. To the west of the continent, California is shown as an island, the Terra Iesso extends east of Japan and the northern part of America. Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand are starting to take shape. A large Terra Incognita in the south is provided a second name, "The land of Parrots." The map is surrounded by a series of intriguing depictions.
- The North West Part of America
- Strangely enough, this map shows the Northeastern part of the continent, including Greenland, the Hudson Bay, and New England. The title is instead a reference to the search for a Northwest Passage, with the Hudson Bay and adjoining areas shown in detail and labeled. Numerous New England cities are named, though the Great Lakes are barely recognizable.
- New England and New York
- Derived in part from Richard Daniel's map, Long Island and Lake Champlain are both noticeably wider than their true elongate forms. A prominent Lake Iroquois also appears, as do many other features of the region including Cape Cod, the St. Lawrence River, and the (named) Hudson River.
- A New Map of Virginia and Maryland
- This map shows the Mid-Atlantic region, with many cities named including New York. New Jersey is divided into an eastern and western portion. The erasure of Bridlington, originally appearing on the northern Susquehanna River, can be seen, as present in all known examples according to Burden.
- Carolina Virginia Mary Land & New Jersey
- Another important regional map of North America, this one inspired directly from Morden's joint venture with William Berry. Barkley County is named, as is Charles Town. In the text following the map, the Floridian climate is extolled, with its inhabitants supposedly living to two hundred and fifty years.
Collation
[Blank]. [14, including Title Page and World Map]. 1-204, 241-286, 285-264, 263-418. [Blank].
A⁴, a², B-Cc⁴, Cc², Aaa-Zzz⁴.
Pages 205-240 appear to have been omitted, signatures are discontinuous at this point as well. No references to these pages appear, and we were unable to locate examples of these pages.
This example of the atlas has 63 maps, as called for in the index. Both Sabin and the title page call for 60 maps. Other sources call 62. One copy reported having 64 maps.
Provenance
The title page bears the stamp "Ex Biblioteca Edmundi Duaci," containing a penciled in "Hn." The inside back cover contains manuscript annotations possibly indicating that the atlas was in the possession of a French bookdealer in 1968, who deemed the work "very rare."
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.