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Description

Extraordinary old color example of John Smith's legendary map of New England, with a remarkable American provenance.

This is one of the the most desirable surviving examples of this legendary early map of America. To our knowedge, it is a known example of the map with early or near contemporary color. The map was always published in black and white. But this example was colored by a professional colorist, probably for presentation to an English official or some other important person. The style of the color and its quality suggest a very early date.

The map has an outstanding provenance: the gift of Mrs. Paul Warburg to F. Abbott Goodhue, c. 1925. Paul Warburg (1868-1932), known as the "Father of the Federal Reserve System," was Director of the Council on Foreign Relations (1921-1932). From 1921, he was Chairman of the International Acceptance Bank, with Goodhue serving as President. From an old New England family with Mayflower antecedents, Goodhue was President of the New England Society in the City of New York, one of the oldest social and charitable organizations in the United States. The Warburgs clearly felt that a spectacular map of New England was an appropriate gift for someone with Goodhue's background and interests.

John Smith's map was "the foundation map of New England cartography, the one that gave [New England] its name and the first devoted to the region" (Burden 187.) After a period of inactivity following his Virginia escapades, Captain John Smith was invited by a group of London merchants to explore the coastline north of Virginia, with instructions to return with a profitable cargo. Smith arrived off the Kennebec River with two ships. Smith immediately recognized the poor state of the existing cartography for the region. He noted that he had six or seven maps

of those northern parts, so unlike each to other, and most so differing from any true proportion, or resemblance of the Countrey, as they did me no more good, then so much waste paper.

He then set about surveying and constructing a proper map of the region, just as he had for Virginia, several years earlier. Returning to England in December 1615, Smith had the map published with his A Description of New England, in June 1616. According to a legend on the map, much of the nomenclature was provided by Charles, Prince of Wales, the future Charles I. Several of these placenames are still in use, including Cape Anne, Charles River, and Plymouth.

The map was engraved by the outstanding Dutch engraver, Simon de Passe, who worked in London from 1616 to 1621. De Passe added a number of finely engraved decorative elements. He was most famous for his portraits, and here includes a striking depiction of Smith. Griffiths notes that de Passe's English portraits "marked an epoch not only in the British print but in the developement of the European portrait engraving," most importantly for his introduction of "a new type of auricular frame … It is curious that such an advanced type should first be popularized in England."

The separately dated ("Ao 1616") portrait of Smith on the map, which may have been de Passe's first, published in England, predates his use of the auricular style. But the "scale of leagues" in the lower right corner clearly exhibits the "extraordinary curling and folding decoration" that typifies the auricular and which de Passe soon incorporated into his portrait frames. The auricular quickly became a hallmark of the Baroque style.

This is state nine of the map, which is important as the first to show the correct position for Boston, and the first to name Charlestown.

 

Condition Description
Old Color. Trimmed to neatlines, with minor loss.