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Description

Fine example of the first printed edition of Francisco Alvarez Barreiro's seminal map of Texas, the Southwest & Mexico, published by Juan Lopez in Madrid.

Barreiro's manuscript map is a cartographic landmark of the highest order. A great rarity, Lopez's separately-issued map is the only printed version of Francisco Alvarez y Barreiro's Plano Corographico e hydrographico de las Provincias de el Nuevo Mexico, 1728, the most important manuscript map for Texas and the American Southwest of the eighteenth century.

Barreiro had served in Texas from 1717 to 1720, during which time he personally assisted in the construction of the church at the mission of San Antonio. In 1724 he accompanied the expedition of Don Pedro de Rivera to the northern frontier of New Spain to inspect the condition of the presidios in that region. In his capacity as engineer and cartographer to the expedition, Barreiro prepared five small maps of specific provinces and the large general map cited above, from which this printed map was taken.

Barreiro's general map been universally acclaimed. Carl Wheat noted that the map is "a cartographic landmark of the first importance … [it] is especially detailed in the Texas area." Thomas Streeter called the map "the most important of all the eighteenth century maps showing Texas, sharing that honor with the Delisle 1718 map." Similarly, The Handbook of Texas refers to the map as "especially noteworthy for its depiction of the upper Texas coast, which had scarcely been explored previously."

One facet of the Barreiro map, which has apparently been overlooked, is its treatment of the Rio Colorado, Rio Xila (Gila) and regions to the north. Barreiro's map curiously extends the coast of the "Mar del Canal de la California" considerably north of the mouth of the Colorado River. At first blush, this would appear to be an acceptance of the myth of the Island of California. The mouth of the Colorado is correctly shown at approximately 33 degrees north, but the so-called Sea or Channel of California is shown extending to beyond 40 degrees, the approximate area of Cape Mendocino. Barreiro provided tremendous detail in these western regions, making the western extremities of this map ripe for further research, in order to harmonize the myth of the island and the details on either side of the northern course of the Colorado River.

Until 1988, Barreiro's manuscript was only known through a single surviving copy of the map, dated 1770, at the British Library. In 1988, the original 1728 map was discovered at the Library of the Hispanic Society of America. Thus the original was unknown to such commentators as Wheat and Streeter. This 1803 printing demonstrates that at that time some version of Barreiro's manuscript was in Spain.

This printed map appeared in just one state, which was separately published in Madrid in 1803 by Juan López, the son of Tomas López, Geographer to His Majesty's Dominions. The elder López was the leading Spanish cartographer of the period. Sytlistically, it is highly likely that Tomas Lopze prepared the plate before his death in 1802. The binding strip along the edge of the left margin and the manuscript number 41, at upper right above the neat line, indicate that this map was included in a composite atlas published by Juan [and Tomás Mauricio] López.

The printed edition of the Barreiro map is of the utmost rarity. No copy recorded at auction. OCLC locates only the copy at Yale, but there is a second at the Library of Congress (mounted on linen), and a third in the Orozco y Berra collection in Mexico City.

Condition Description
Original color.
Reference
Wheat, Transmississippi West, I, entry 115, pp. 82-83 (reproducing the 1770 copy); Cohen, Mapping the West, pp. 55-57 (reproducing the 1728 original); Martin & Martin, Maps of Texas, p. 24.