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Preferred Citation
[Name and date of item], Paul Stevens collection of Maps, [Folder], Special Collections, The George Washington Presidential
Library at Mount Vernon [hereafter Washington Library], Mount Vernon,
The collection contains 26 maps of the New World, dating 1541-1778, which illustrate the progression of European geographic
knowledge about Virginia and North America from the 16th through the 18th centuries
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 4 Section: 3 2020-SC-024-006
Americæ pars, nunc Virginia dicta : primum ab Anglis inuenta, sumtibus Dn. Walteri Raleigh, Equestris ordinis Viri, Anno Dn̄i.
MDLXXXV regni Vero Sereniss. nostræ Reginæ Elisabethæ XXVII, hujus vero Historia peculiari Libro descripta est, additis etiam
Indigenarum Iconibus
White, John, active 1585-1593Bry, Theodor de, 1528-1598Harriot, Thomas, 1560-1621
1 Sheets 1 map ; hand colored 41 x 30 cm, on sheet 42 x 33 cm
1590Latin.
Americæ pars, nunc Virginia dicta : primum ab Anglis inuenta, sumtibus Dn. Walteri Raleigh, Equestris ordinis Viri, Anno Dn̄i.
MDLXXXV regni Vero Sereniss. nostræ Reginæ Elisabethæ XXVII, hujus vero Historia peculiari Libro descripta est, additis etiam
Indigenarum Iconibus: 2019-10-14
"Theodore De Bry's engraving of John White's manuscript map was the first finely-detailed view of a North American landscape.
It depicts English claims to "Virginia," which at the time encompassed both modern Virginia and North Carolina. Created in
the wake of the failed English settlement at Roanoke Island, De Bry's color engraving visualizes English understanding of
indigenous political communities such as the Secotan, Chawanook, and Weapemeoc peoples. At right, the ships heading into the
Chesapeake Bay suggest future pathways for settlement and commerce." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul
Schott Stevens Collection
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 4 Section: 3 2020-SC-024-007
Americae sive novi orbis, nova descriptio
Ortelius, Abraham, 1527-1598
1 Sheets 1 map ; hand colored 51 x 37 cm, on sheet 54 x 39 cm
1570
slight yellowing
Latin.
Americae sive novi orbis, nova descriptio: 2022-08-02
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 2 Section: 1 2020-SC-024-008
Baye de Chesapeake en 4 feuilles avec les bas fonds, passes, entrées, sondes et routes ou l'on donne les parties navigables
des rivieres Patowmack, Patapsco, et Nord-Est
Le Rouge, Georges-LouisSmith, Anthony, pilot of St. Marys
1 Sheets 1 map ; 1 inset map ; uncolored 135 x 93 cm, on sheet 141 x 99 cm
1778French.
Created / Published
Paris : Le Rouge, Smith, 1778
Scope and Contents
"Produced for the French Navy, the rare chart displayed here was the best available chart of this region for the time, and
was used by all naval forces involved in combat during the American Revolutionary War. The information on this very detailed
chart was based primarily on the work of American Anthony Smith, a local Chesapeake Bay pilot of St. Mary's County. The chart
was consulted by Admiral de Grasse in his victory over the British off the Chesapeake Capes on September 5, 1781." https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search/commonwealth:z603vv10h
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 2 Section: 1 2020-SC-024-009
Carte de la baie de Chesapeake et de la partie navigable des rivières, James, York, Patowmack, Patuxen, Patapsco, North-East,
Choptank et Pokomack
Sartine, Antoine de, comte d'Alby, 1729-1801
1 Sheets 1 map ; uncolored 87 x 59 cm, on sheet 95 x 65 cm
1778French.
Created / Published
Paris : Antoine Sartine, 1778
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 7 Section: 2 2020-SC-024-010
Carte de la Louisiane, Maryland, Virginia, Caroline, Georgie, avec une partie de la Floride
Cóvens et Mortier
1 Sheets 1 map ; hand colored 60 x 40 cm, on sheet 67 x 57 cm
"Originally published in 1753, the Fry-Jefferson map was the most accurate map of Virginia at that time. This French version
was printed at the beginning of the French and Indian War, which began when Governor Robert Dinwiddie ordered George Washington
and his Virginia troops to drive the French off British-claimed land. Most of the indigenous names featured in John Smith's
map are gone, replaced by Anglo-American settlements." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens
Collection
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 7 Section: 2 2020-SC-024-013
Carte du Mexique et de la Floride des Terres Angloises et des Isles Antilles : du cours et des environs de la Riviere de Mississipi
[sic], dressée sur ungrand nombre de memoires principalemt. sur ceux de M.rs d'Iberville et le Sueur
L'Isle, Guillaume de, 1675-1726
1 Sheets 1 map ; hand colored 66 x 48 cm, on sheet 71 x 53 cm
1703
slight yellowing
French.
Carte du Mexique et de la Floride des Terres Angloises et des Isles Antilles : du cours et des environs de la Riviere de Mississipi
[sic], dressée sur ungrand nombre de memoires principalemt. sur ceux de M.rs d'Iberville et le Sueur: 2019-10-14
"Europeans had a more precise understanding of North America and the Caribbean by the early 18th century. Guillaume De L'Isle
drew on earlier French expeditions into the continental interior to create the first accurate map of the Mississippi River.
His use of color falsely implies fixed borders between competing European and indigenous peoples." -- Mapping the "New World":
Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 3 Section: 3 2020-SC-024-014
Die grosse insel Cuba mit der umbligen der lantschaft
Drake, Francis, approximately 1540-1596
1 Sheets 1 map ; hand colored 27 x 18 cm, on sheet 29 x 21 cm
1586
slight yellowing
German.
Die grosse insel Cuba mit der umbligen der lantschaft: 2022-07-26
"Thirty years after Martin Waldseemüller printed one of the first maps of the Americas, Lorenz Fries published an updated
European perspective on the New World. "Terra Incognita" on Waldseemüller's map has become "Terra Nova" on Fries's. The Castilian
flag marks Spanish territorial claims in the Caribbean, while the continent's indigenous people are caricatured as primitive,
reflecting common European misperceptions of native cultures." -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott
Stevens Collection
Created/Published
Strasbourg : Lorenz Fries, 1541
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 4 Section: 4 2020-SC-024-021
Ould Virginia
Smith, John, 1580-1631Robert de Vaugondy, Gilles, 1688-1766
London : John Smith, Robert Vaugondy, printed by James Reeve, 1627
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 3 Section: 3 2020-SC-024-022
The north part of America : conteyning Newfoundland, New England, Virginia, Florida, New Spaine, and Noua Francia w[i]th ye
riche isles of Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Porto Rieco, on the south, and upon ye west the large and goodly iland of California.
The bonds of it are the Atlantick Ocean on ye south and east sides ye South Sea on ye west side and on ye north Fretum Hudson
and Buttons Baye a faire entrance to ye nearest and most temperate passage to Japa[n] & China
Briggs, Henry, 1561-1630Elstracke, Renold, active 1590-1630
1 Sheets 1 map ; uncolored 36 x 29 cm, on sheet 37 x 33 cm
1625English.
The north part of America : conteyning Newfoundland, New England, Virginia, Florida, New Spaine, and Noua Francia w[i]th ye
riche isles of Hispaniola, Cuba, Jamaica, and Porto Rieco...: 2022-07-26
"From Theodore de Bry's Grand Voyages, Dreyzehender Theil Americae published by Matheus Merian. This German version of Captain
John Smith's map of Virginia depicts the English colony shortly after Jamestown's 1607 founding. Powhatan, the principal chief
of the indigenous confederacy that dominated the region, presides in the upper left corner. The rivers command our attention.
The English expected to settle the interior by following waterways upstream. In time, tobacco plantations worked by indentured
servants and slaves replaced the indigenous settlements that dotted these rivers. The Potomac River is visible just above
the "SA" in "Chesapeak Bay."" -- Mapping the "New World": Highlights from the Paul Schott Stevens Collection
Maps Drawer: 122 : L : 3 Section: 3 2020-SC-024-024
Virginia
Hall, Ralph, active 1637
1 Sheets 1 map, uncolored 24 x 17 cm, on sheet 28 x 18 cm
