Chart from New York to Timber Island including Nantucket Shoals from the latest Surveys
Published by printed and sold by John Norman, Boston, 1794
- First Edition
- Map
- Used





Seller: Donald A. Heald Rare Books (ABAA), New York, NY, U.S.A.Donald A. Heald Rare Books (ABAA)
AbeBooks seller since May 9, 1998
Condition: Used
£ 30,236.28
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Copper engraved sea chart, on seven sheets, unjoined. Greatest dimensions (if joined): approximately 50 x 76 inches. Rare complete copy of the first edition of Norman's chart of the New England coast line on seven sheets. The American Revolution brought an end to Britain's leading role in the mapping of America. The task now fell to the American publishing industry still in its infancy, but with first-hand access to the new surveys that were documenting the rapid growth of the nation. In particular, there was a need for nautical charts for use by the expanding New England commercial fleets. The first American marine atlas, Mathew Clark's A Complete Set of Charts of the Coast of America, was published in Boston in 1790. Two of Clark's charts had been engraved by John Norman, who was inspired to launch his own enterprise. In January 1790, Norman published a notice in the Boston Gazette stating he was currently engraving charts of all the coast of America on a large scale. These were assembled and published as The American Pilot in Boston in 1791. Norman's Pilot, the second American marine atlas, indeed the second American atlas of any kind, marked an advance over the earlier work of Mathew Clark. The present map is among the most impressive from the atlas. Printed on seven sheets, the map joins to an irregular shape (sometimes described as an inverted T or inverted L shape). As the title suggests, the map depicts the entire coastline, from Manhattan Island in the south west, to Timber Island, Maine. Besides an accurate depiction of the coastline based on Holland's surveys, the map includes shoals and soundings, and with both coastal and inland towns and waterways. As the cartouche states, the map, and indeed the entire atlas, includes an attestation by Osgood Carleton (described as a "Teacher of Navigation and other Branches of the Mathematics"), certifying its accuracy. New editions of Norman's Pilot appeared in 1792 and 1794, and after his death, his son William Norman, brought out editions in 1794, 1798, 1801, and 1803. The present map is Wheat & Brun's second state, i.e. from the 1794 edition preceding John Norman's death, with the inclusion of the right extension sheet showing George's Bank, the inclusion of the northernmost sheet extending the map to Timber Island and with roads added connecting towns north of Boston. Later editions included a number of changes, most notably excluding the George's Bank and northernmost sheets. Despite the seemingly large number of editions, The American Pilot is one of the rarest of all American atlases. Wheat and Brun locate just ten complete copies for the first five editions: 1791 (Huntington, Harvard); 1792 (Library of Congress, Clements); 1794(1) (Library of Congress, John Carter Brown Library, Boston Public Library); 1794(2) (Yale); 1798 (Library of Congress, Boston Public Library). Only one other example of this map has appeared at auction in the last quarter century, being a later 19th century issue without the additional two sheets (Swann Galleries, 5 December 2013, selling for $37,500). Wheat & Brun 157 (state 2); McCorke 791.4; Suarez, Shedding the Veil 60 (1801 edition); Bosse, "The Boston Map Trade of the Eighteenth Century" in Mapping Boston, pp. 49-52.…
Seller Inventory # 23678
Bibliographic details
- Title
- Chart from New York to Timber Island including Nantucket Shoals from the latest Surveys
- Author
- NORMAN, John; and Osgood CARLETON
- Publisher
- printed and sold by John Norman, Boston
- Publication year
- 1794
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Seller catalogs
- North America
Donald A. Heald Rare Books (ABAA)
New York, NY, U.S.A.
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| Item | 5 to 14 business days | 3 to 6 business days |
|---|---|---|
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Donald A. Heald Rare Books offers the finest examples of antiquarian books and prints in the areas of Botany, Ornithology, Natural History, Americana & Canadiana, Native Americans, Voyages & Travels, Maps & Atlases, Photography and more. Founded in England in 1972, we have formed and contributed to important private and institutional collections. Items of note which we have placed include a unique copy of Abbot’s "Natural History of the Rarer Lepidopterous Insects of Georgia" with plates on vellum, an extremely rare extra-illustrated large paper Spanish edition of Blaeu’s "Atlas Mayor," Curtis's "North American Indian," a copy of the Federalist Papers in boards, the first separate printing of the Bill of Rights, and a large paper issue of Redouté's "Les Roses" with the plates in two states. We are renowned for our extensive print inventory which is unsurpassed in quality. Our Sporting collection recently incorporated the complete print stock of Ackermann & Son of London, established in 1783. We are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, where Mr. Heald has served on the Board of Governors as Treasurer, Security Chairperson, and as Chairman of the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. We are members of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, and the American Historical Print Collectors Society. Mr. Heald is a member of the Grolier Club, and the American Antiquarian Society.…
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Donald A. Heald Rare Books (ABAA)
NY, U.S.A.
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