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The First Modern American Published Sea Chart of the Atlantic Coast. With Coverage from Cuba to North Carolina.

Nice example of Edmund Blunt's extremely rare sea chart of the East Coast of North America, from Long Island to Cuba, first issued in 1820.

Blunt's chart was the first general chart of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. published in America. The chart was originally issued in 1815, with a dedication to "the Marine Society of the City of New York". It is probable that in 1820, Blunt revised the title of the chart on the occasion of the organization of the New York Nautical Institution and Ship Masters' Society, which was organized on January 27, 1820, "for the purpose of promoting nautical skill and knowledge and affording aid and relief to unfortunate ship-masters and their destitute widows and orphans."

The Chart includes 10 profile views, 12 harbor insets, including (from left to right):

• "Entrance to the Harbour of Havanna Lat. 23o. 09'N. Long. 82o. 19'W."
• "Plan of the Entrance & Harbour of St. Augustin."
• "The Inlet of St. Mary's River."
• "The Harbor of Port Royal"
• "Charleston Harbor"
• [Oak Island, Bald Head, Cape Fear, and Smithville]
• "Chart of Lewistown Bay Exhibiting the projected Breakwater &c."
• "A Plan of the entrance into Winyaw Bay, George Town, S.C. - The figures denote the depth in feet at high water. 1818."
• [Cape Lookout]

Editions of the Chart

While Guthorn notes the existence of the 1815 edition of the chart dedicated to the Marine Society, he makes no mention of the existence of a "new edition" in his list of titles of Blunt's general maps of the United States (Guthorn, page 89-92). Based upon the information below, it appears that this "new edition" of the chart was first published in 1820, then revised (with a slight change to the title) in 1824, before being superseded by a new chart in 1827.

1. To the Marine Society... Edmund M. Blunt, 1815
2. To the Marine Society... Edmund M. Blunt, 1820
3. To the Marine Society... New edition; corrected and improved by the surveys taken in the sloop Orbit, under the direction of E.C. Ward, Francis Mallaby, U.S. Navy, and others: with plans and views by J.R. Madison, U.S. Navy and E. Blunt, in 1820. Edmund M. Blunt, 1820
4. To the Marine Society... New edition... And by Surveys of Chesapeake bay and the coast of North Carolina by order of the United States Navy Board. 1821
5. To the members of the Nautical Institution and Shipmasters' Society... 1822
6. To the members of the Nautical Institution... 1824 http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-eeb0-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
7. To the members of the Nautical Institution... 1826 www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/46201
8. To the members of the Nautical Institution... 1840

Because the title sheet is lacking from this copy, we are unable to determine the exact edition of the map, though it seems to match the 1824 and 1826 editions that we have examined.