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The Only Edition of this Important Early American Geography to Contain the English Filson Map of Kentucky.

An excellent example of this very important early American geography, with a large suite of maps covering the nascent nation, including Stockdale's edition of Filson's map of Kentucky.

Stockdale's edition of Morse immediately predates the great wave of domestic American mapmaking that was pushed forward by Joseph Scott, John Reid, and Mathew Carey, starting in 1795. It was issued at a time when the new republic was eschewing the previously enforced western borders and expanding into what had previously been the backcountry. This movement is seen in a number of the maps included here, none more important than John Filson's Map of Kentucky, the best map of the area before Elihu Barker's wall map was published.

Filson's map was first published in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1784, and is generally considered the first important map of Kentucky. The present John Stockdale example is very similar to the extremely rare Wilmington edition but with minor alterations and an added inset, "A Plan of the Rapids in the River Ohio." Kentucky is shown divided into the counties of Lafayette, Lincoln, and Jefferson, and numerous settlements are located and named. The roads between the principal towns are shown by means of dotted lines, plus the following "Path of Cumberland Settlement, The Road from the Old Settlements in Virginia to Kentucky thro' the great Wilderness, Genl. Clark's War Road going, Birds War Road, &c." Kentucky was admitted as a state in 1792. Stockdale was apparently spurred to republish the American Filson by Kentucky statehood; he published the map the following year.

The Stockdale edition of Filson's map is the only full-sized edition of the map other than the original 1784 Wilmington edition and the only other edition published in English. The last example of the Wilmington map to appear at auction was the Thomas W. Streeter Copy (1967). In describing his copy, Streeter noted:

R. C. Ballard Thruston has given what is probably the definitive account of the Filson map in Filson Club History Quarterly, January, 1934, p. [1]--38. Mr. Thruston classifies the then 15 known copies of the map into six states. This map, so far as now known, is an intermediate unique example of state between Thruston's No. V and his No. VI. The main identification of state No. VI is the extension of the Sciota River through the north border of the map and the introduction of an Indian trail running south from the mouth of the Sciota to the Warrior's Path. Here the Sciota River extends through the north border but the Indian trail to the Warrior's Path is not yet shown.

Maps

1. A New Map of North America from the latest and best Authorities 1794.
2. A New Map of Upper & Lower Canada 1794.
3. A New Map of Nova Scotia New Brunswick and Cape Breton. 1794.
4. A Map of Newfoundland
5. A Map of the Northern and Middle States; Comprehending the Western Territory and the British Dominions in North America. from the best Authorities.
6. A Map of Vermont.
7. A Map of New Hampshire
8. A Map of Massachusetts from the best Authorities.
9. A Map of Rhode Island.
10. A Map of Connecticut.
11. A Map of the State of New York.
12. A Map of New Jersey from the best Authorities.
13. A Map of Pennsylvania from the best Authorities.
14. A Map of the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia; Comprehending the Spanish Provinces of East and West Florida: Exhibiting the Boundaries as fixed by the late Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spanish Dominions. Compiled from the late Surveys & Observations by Joseph Purcell.
15. Plan of the City of Washington (MapForum, Washington D.C., 10a; Verner 10)
16. Map of Virginia Maryland and Delaware.
17. A Map of the Back Settlements
18. A Map of Kentucky Drawn from Actual Observations By John Filson.
19. A Map of North Carolina from the best Authorities.
20. A Map of the Tennessee Government. 1794.
21. A Map of South Carolina from the best Authorities.
22. A Map of East and West Florida.
23. A Map of South American and the Adjacent Islands. 1794.
24. A Map of the West Indies from the best Authorities.
25. A Map of the World Exhibiting all the New Discoveries 1794

Howes (M840) notes that the book is sometimes found with only 3 maps and sometimes with 25, this is the larger of the two, with all 25 maps.