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Description

Rare separately issued map of the United States by Daniel Freidrich Sotzmann, engraved for Christoph Daniel Ebeling's Beschreibung.

The present example has wide uncut deckled edges, similar to Sotzmann's individual maps of the states. The words "No. 7. De Forenede Nordamerikanske Stater" ("United North American States" in Danish).

The map is filled with detail, the new Tennassee Government is shown and Georgia is portrayed with a large and unusual configuration due to the Spanish claims on the West Florida region. The northwest portion shown here extends from the Ohio River to the Mississippi up to Canada and is shown as Native American territory, while the future Minnesota is beset by a region called Mosquito Land Shaft.

Christoph Daniel Ebeling was a professor of history and classical languages in Hamburg. In the 1770s, he began gathering data for a massive geography and history of the United States. His first published work was Amerikanische Bibliothek. He also corresponded with many important Colonial and US colleagues, thereby assembling one of the best Americana libraries of the time. His Erdbeschribung und Geschichte von Amerika, die vereinten Staaten von Amerika, was a multi-volume work, the first volume of which was published in 1793. Over the next 25 years, he published six additional volumes, the last of which was issued in 1816. The work was interrupted by his death in 1817.

In 1795, Ebeling recognized the need for an Atlas volume and began compiling his Atlas von Norkamerika. The plan was for 18 maps, 16 of which would be separate states. Of the 18 maps, only 10 are known to have been issued and there are only a handful of complete sets known.

As noted by Schwartz & Ehrenberg, this series of maps is among the rarest of all cartographic Americana.

Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann was an engraver in the Brandenburg area.

The cartographic detail in this map is remarkable. The detail is consistent with Ebeling's exhaustive work.

The map is not listed in Ristow. McCorckle notes a 1799 pre-cursor map, which does not mention Sotzmann or Ebeling in the title. There is also a 1819 re-issue of the map, with significant updates.

Condition Description
Wide deckled edges. Color a bit faded and margins a bit toned from an early framing.