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Description

Nice example of the Homann Heirs' edition of Sauthier's celebrated map of New York and New Jersey, made during the Revolutionary War

Interest in the American Revolution in the German Empire and throughout northern Europe inspired Homann Heirs and several other major publishers in Northern Europe to publish German language editions of a number of the most important English maps of the British Colonies in North America. This derivative of Claude Joseph Sauthier's remarkable manuscript map of the provinces of New York and New Jersey which was first published on three sheets in 1776 by William Faden as A Map of the Province of New York. Fadem's map also included details taken from Bernard Ratzer's survey of New Jersey.

Sauthier continued to improve upon his work during the first years of the Revolution, and in 1779, an enlarged version of the map was published by Faden on six sheets, under the title A Chorographical Map.... Although the two are usually viewed as different maps, they are clearly based on the same source (the aforementioned large manuscript), and the present map is a reduced version of this mapping sequence.

The Sauthier map contains a tremendous amount of information which appears for the first time on a printed map, particularly in the Northern parts of the New York, the Catskills, and Vermont. Sauthier notes that

the Mohawk Valley and County of Tryon are Laid down according to an Actual Survey and other Manuscripts generously communicated by Governor Pownall [the esteemed cartographer and former Massachusetts governor]."

Claude Joseph Sauthier came to North Carolina in 1769 with Governor William Tryon. He conducte surveys of several North Carolina towns and designed "Tryon's Palace" at New Bern before accompanying Tryon to New York in 1771. He subsequently conducted many surveys of New York, and during the revolution he served as a military engineer producing a number of fine maps for the British Army. A number of Sauthier's printed and manuscript maps, including an example of the present map, can be found in the collection formed by Sir Henry Clinton, Commander of the British Forces in North America, 1775-1782, now preserved at the William L. Clements Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Reference
McCorckle, Early Printed Maps of New England, 778.9; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & West Indies, 1049.
Homann Heirs Biography

Homann Heirs was a German publishing firm that enjoyed a major place in the European map market throughout the eighteenth century. Founded in 1702 by Johann Baptist Homann, the business passed to his son, Christoph, upon Johann’s death in 1724. Christoph died in 1730, aged only 27, and the firm was inherited by subsequent Homann heirs. This altered the name of the company, which was known as Homann Erben, or Homann heirs. The firm continued in business until 1848.