Description:
Map titled "A NEW MAP Of the most Considerable / PLANTATIONS of the ENGLISH / In AMERICA / Dedicated to His Highness / William Duke of Glocester [sic]"hand colored in bright red, white, pale pinkish brown, and pale yellow brown, which was drawn by Edward Wells, a geographer, mathematician, and theologian at Christ Church College, Oxford University, and engraved by Sutton Nicholls (fl. 16801740) in Oxford, 1704. The map is from a school atlas Wells dedicated to the young William, Duke of Gloucester (1689-1700), an eleven-year old student at Christ Church and heir to the British throne through his mother, Princess (later Queen) Anne (1665-1714). Wells, who was considered one of the leading British geographers of his time, briefly served as William's personal tutor. Wells drew on Dutch, French, and English sources to compile his map which places New England in the context of other American colonies (including England’s island holdings of Jamaica, Bermuda and Barbadoes, and the Atlantic coast from Canada to St. Augustine). The map depicts settlement in the Connecticut River Valley from “Saybroke” (Saybrook, Connecticut) to “Squaheeg” (Northfield, Massachusetts). Deerfield’s ("Dierfield") exposed location as a remote outpost on New England’s northwest frontier is clearly seen. The advertisement for the first edition (1700) of the atlas stated: "the most remarkable Differences of Ancient and Present Geography may be quicly discerned; being a Natural and Easie Method to lead young Students (for whose us the Work is principally intended) unto competent knowledge of Geographical Science." Between 1700-1738, eight editions of the atlas appeared, all but the first published in London. Because many of the maps did not change, dating maps separated from the atlas is difficult.; nor did the map dedication change in later editions although William, Duke of Gloucester, died on July 30, 1700.
Label Text:
At the time of the publication of A New Sett of Maps, Edward Wells taught mathematics and geography at Christ Church College, Oxford. He dedicated the maps in his school atlas to William, Duke of Gloucester (1689-1700), an eleven-year-old student at Christ Church and heir to the English throne through his mother Princess (later Queen) Anne. Wells, who was considered one of the leading English geographers of his time, briefly served as William’s personal tutor. Not long after his studies began, the young duke died. [illus. – portrait William & Anne] Work on the atlas had undoubtedly begun long before William arrived as a student. For A New Map of the most Considerable Plantations of the English in America, Wells drew on Dutch, French, and English sources. The advertisement for the first edition (1700) of the atlas stated, “the most remarkable Differences of Ancient and Present Geography may be quickly discerned; being a Natural and Easie Method to lead young Students (for whose use the Work is principally intended) unto a competent knowledge of Geographical Science.” Between 1700 and 1738, eight editions of the atlas appeared, all but the first published in London. Because many of the maps did not change, dating maps separated from the atlas is difficult.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+96.044 |
