Sayer, Robert and John Bennet

8vo (8 11/16 x 5 3/8 in.; 220 x 140 mm). Letterpress text: title (verso blank), 1p. list of maps (verso blank), 2pp. dedication to Gov. Pownall, 2pp. advertisement, 6 folding engraved maps, all handcolored in outline; unobtrusive reinforcements to fold versos, some light offsetting. Expertly bound to style in 18th-century diced half russia over contemporary marbled paper-covered boards. Modern blue morocco-backed cloth box.

Fite & Freeman A Book of Old Maps pp.212-216; Howes A208; Nebenzahl Atlas of the American Revolution pp.61-63; Phillips Atlases 1206; Rumsey p.311; Sabin 1147; Schwartz & Ehrenberg p.190; Streeter Sale 73.

The Holster Atlas: one of the most important atlases of the American Revolution designed for use in the field.

This collection of maps was published by Sayer and Bennet at the beginning of the Revolution for the use of British officers. "Surveys and Topographical Charts being fit only for a Library, such maps as an Officer may take with him into the Field have been much wanted. The following Collection forms a Portable Atlas of North America, calculated in its Bulk and Price to suit the Pockets of Officers of all Ranks" (Advertisement).  Although the publishers claimed the atlas would fit into an officer's pocket, it was more usually carried in a holster and thus gained its nick-name.

The Holster Atlas was published at the suggestion of Governor George Pownall and included the "maps that the British high command regarded as providing essential topographical information in the most convenient form" (Schwartz & Ehrenberg).

Included among the six maps is the  first separately published map of Lake Champlain, this excellent detailed chart was based on a survey made during the French and Indian War, but not published until the Revolution. It contains an inset illustrating America's first naval battle, in which General Benedict Arnold, though forced back down the lake, was able to delay the British attempt to descend to the Hudson for that year. No mention, of course, is made of Ethan Allen's taking of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775.