Book Description

From the Introduction: "The 156 items described in this list comprise all the maps in the custody of the Cartographic Archives Division that can be identified as having originated before 1790, as being copies or facsimiles of pre-1790 maps, or as later maps that portray areas or events from the pre-1790 period. The list describes many historically significant items that can, in a real sense, be considered the foundation upon which the vast Federal mapping program was subsequently built. Every new map draws heavily upon the concepts, data, and techniques established by its cartographic forebears, and the training of the early Federal mapmakers was grounded firmly in the French and British traditions of surveying and cartography." This work is composed of three parts: Part I: Atlases, includes the U.S. Constitution Sesquicentennial Atlas, the George Washington Bicentennial Atlas, and the Faden Atlas of the American Revolution; Part II: Mapes encompassing two or more Colonies or States; and, Part III: Maps of areas within individual Colonies or States, which includes: Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. An index and three illustrations augment this work: A Plan of Boston, 1775; A Survey of Lake Champlain, 1794; and Sandy Hook, N.J., 1778. "The index consists chiefly of the names of Colonies and States, of towns and forts, rivers, lakes, and harbors, and of explorers, surveyors, mapmakers, engravers, publishers, and military and political figures who were in some way connected with the histories of specific maps."