Scarce and unusually formatted map of the Eastern part of North America and the Western Caribbean, including Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Hispaniola, etc., from Cartes des Itineraires et Voyages Modernes.
The Dickenson family set sail from Jamaica in 1696. The ship was wrecked in a storm off the east coast of Florida, landing near Jupiter Island, about 20 miles north of present day West Palm Beach. The party after getting safely ashore, was seized by Indians, and stripped of their clothing and other possessions. The Indians made no effort to kill or enslave them, but let them proceed some 200 miles north to St. Augustine, where they were befriended by the Spaniards, who sent them on their way to Charleston, and eventually to Philadelphia.
The Dickenson's story became one of the most popular of 18th Century Indian captivity narratives.
Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733) was a Dutch mapmaker and publisher who printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated books, but is best known for his voluminous output of maps and atlases. Van der Aa was born to a German stonecutter from Holstein. Interestingly, all three van der Aa sons came to be involved in the printing business. Hildebrand was a copper engraver and Boudewyn was a printer.