Description:
Map titled "A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye continent of North America. Containing Newfoundland, New Scotland, New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. According to the Newest and most Exact Observations By Herman Moll Geographer." The map was "Printed and Sold by Tho: Bowles next ye Chapter House in St. Pauls' Church-yard, John Bowles at the Black Horse in Cornhill, and by I. King at ye Globe in ye Poultrey near Stocks Market." The map is dedicated "To the Honorable Walter Dowglass, Esq. Constituted Captain General and Chief/ Governor of all ye Leeward Islands in America/ by her late Majesty Queen Anne in ye year 1711/ This map is most Humbly Dedicated/ by your most Humble Servant Herman Moll Geogr./ 1715". There is a small inset print of a line of beavers building a dam with a wide river and high waterfall in the background, with the inscription, "The Cataract of Niagara. Some make this waterfall half a league while others reckon it to be no more than a hundred fathom." First issued in 1715, Moll’s map is best known for its commanding view of erect beavers systematically constructing a dam. For both geographical content and design elements, Moll relied on French sources. The maps of French explorer Louis Lahontan (1666-1715) provided much of this map’s geography, and Moll copied the beaver scene from a 1698 map of the Western Hemisphere by Nicolas de Fer (1646-1720). Fer, in turn, based his image of industrious beavers on an engraving in the travels of Louis Hennepin (1626-1705), published in Paris in 1697. This is one of many examples of mapmakers appropriating and recycling imagery. Despite its French origins, Moll’s map reflects English interests. In the upper right is a description of the postal system in England’s American colonies, and a summary of French fishing rights as established by the Treaty of Utrecht at the end of Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) appears just above the beaver inset. The treaty granted Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to England, but allowed French fishermen to dry their catch there. Moll dedicated the map to Walter Dowglass (d.1768), colonial governor of “all of ye Leeward Islands,” a reference to the fact that under the treaty, France ceded Nevis and St. Kitts to England. This, the fifth printing of the map, was issued after Moll’s death by London map sellers John and Thomas Bowles.
Label Text:
First issued in 1715, Moll’s map is best known for its commanding view of erect beavers systematically constructing a dam. For both geographical content and design elements, Moll relied on French sources. The maps of French explorer Louis Lahontan (1666-1715) provided much of A New and Exact Map’s geography, and Moll copied the beaver scene from a 1698 map of the Western Hemisphere by Nicolas de Fer (1646-1720). Fer, in turn, based his image of industrious beavers on an engraving in the travels of Louis Hennepin (1626-1705), published in Paris in 1697. This is one of many examples of mapmakers appropriating and recycling imagery. [illus. – Dowglass dedication] Despite its French origins, Moll’s map reflects English interests. In the upper right is a description of the postal system in England’s American colonies, and a summary of French fishing rights as established by the Treaty of Utrecht at the end of Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) appears just above the beaver inset. The treaty granted Nova Scotia and Newfoundland to England, but allowed French fishermen to dry their catch there. Moll dedicated the map to Walter Dowglass (d. 1768), colonial governor of “all of ye Leeward Islands,” a reference to the fact that under the treaty, France ceded Nevis and St. Kitts to England. This, the fifth printing of the map, was issued after Moll’s death by London map sellers John and Thomas Bowles.
Subjects:
Watercolor painting Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2992 |
