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Description

Rare English map of America, which includes the earliest appearance of Philadelphia on a printed map.

Rare map of America by Lea & Overton, first issued in 1684. This is a map which owing to its scarcity has been largely overlooked and mis-catalogued by Tooley and McLaughlin. With thanks to the fine scholarship of Henry Taliaferro in his description of the Custin Atlas at Colonial Williamsburg, we now know that this map was offered for sale as early as 1684 and that in all probability, there are two states of the map, the later of the two adding an advertisement for maps of Africa, Asia and Europe, which are bound into the Custin Atlas but did not appear in Overton's 1684 catalogue of maps.

This is the earliest appearance of Philadelphia on a map. As noted by Taliaferro, because of the changing politics in England, the dedication to Henry Duke of Beaufort makes it highly unlikely that the map was published after 1689. The map is richly embellished with numerous sailing ships, coats of arms and two marvelous cartouches. The map appeared at the height of the initial boom in English interest in its New Colonies and reflects the addition of English nomenclature throughout the new British Colonies.

Condition Description
A nice wide margined example. Several modest repairs in the oceans, not affecting the printed image and a bit of discoloration along the fold, but a in all a very good wide margined example of this remarkable rarity.
Reference
Burden 593 (State 2).
Philip Lea Biography

Philip Lea (fl. 1683-1700) was a central figure in the London map community at the end of the eighteenth century. He apprenticed under Robert Morden, with whom he later collaborated. Lea was made free of the Weavers Company in 1689. He was a publisher and a globe and instrument seller with ties to members of government. For example, Samuel Pepys lists him as his map advisor and colorist. He was not known primarily for his own original works, but for his reworking and reissuing of the work of others, particularly the county maps and world map of Christopher Saxton. He also acquired plates from John Seller, John Ogilby, and William Morgan, among others. Later in his career, he collaborated frequently with Herman Moll. After his death in 1700, Philip’s wife, Anne, carried on the business for several decades.

John Overton Biography

The Overton family was a prominent part of the printing, and mapmaking, industry in London in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. John Overton (1639/40-1713) was the son of a tailor who apprenticed to Stationer Thomas Gould. He was made free of the Stationers’ Company in 1663. Two years later, London was struck by the Great Plague of 1665-6. Peter Stent, a leading printseller, succumbed and Overton took over his shop. This burned in the Great Fire of 1666, but Overton had rebuilt by 1669, when he advertised his wares from the White Horse on Snow Hill. Overton specialized in prints, portraits, and especially maps and topographical views.

John was likely married three times and had seven children. His eldest, Thomas, emigrated to America. His second oldest, Henry, was executor of John’s will when the latter died in 1713. Henry (1675/6-1751) acquired his father’s stock in 1707 and ran the shop until his own death in 1751. He published many maps, most focusing on the British Isles. His shop and stock passed to his nephew, another Henry, son of John’s fourth son, James.

Henry the Elder’s brother, Philip (ca. 1681-1745), was also a printer and mapmaker. Philip served as his father’s apprentice and was made free of the Stationers’ in 1702. His father set him up in the trade in 1707 and by 1710 he was working from the sign of the Golden Buck in Fleet Street. Philip specialized in fine arts prints, including Hogarth’s Hudibras set (1726), but he also sold many maps. At his death in 1745 he left his shop to his widow, Mary. She ran the shop and then married James Sayer, whose brother, Robert, became Mary’s assistant. He took over the business in 1748 and became a famous purveyor of maps, charts, and views.

Back at the sign of the White Horse, Henry the Younger continued the family business, expanding their stock to include a large collection of landscape views. He often partnered with Robert Sayer. He continued in business until at least 1764, when he drops out of the historical record.