Popple, Henry

Folio (21 x 15 in.; 534 x 381 mm), large engraved wall-map on 15 engraved full-sheet and 5 single-sheet map sheets, folded key-map, 19 inset views and plans (the 2 largest of Niagara Falls and Mexico City), sheet 17 given to a large figural allegorical title cartouche, lacking the sometimes-found 2 leaves of letterpress contents but with a contemporary manuscript contents listing bound at the end, all sheets mounted on guards; some light browning, very occasional staining, minor marginal restoration to key-map and sheet 1. Half calf over marbled boards antique.

Babinski, Henry Popple's 1733 Map; Cumming, Southeast 216;  Degrees of Latitude 24

Folio (21 x 15 in.; 534 x 381 mm), large engraved wall-map on 15 engraved full-sheet and 5 single-sheet map sheets, folded key-map, 19 inset views and plans (the 2 largest of Niagara Falls and Mexico City), sheet 17 given to a large figural allegorical title cartouche, lacking the sometimes-found 2 leaves of letterpress contents but with a contemporary manuscript contents listing bound at the end, all sheets mounted on guards; some light browning, very occasional staining, minor marginal restoration to key-map and sheet 1. Half calf over marbled boards antique.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot provided by Sotheby's. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colours and shades which are different to the lot's actual colour and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation because Sotheby's is not a professional conservator or restorer but rather the condition report is a statement of opinion genuinely held by Sotheby's. For that reason, Sotheby's condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot.

The first large-scale map of British possessions in America, and one of the two most important large-scale maps of colonial America. "A fundamental centrepiece of any serious collection of North American maps" (Babinski, p. 5). The territorial struggle to lay claim to lands in North America was carried out by French and English mapmakers for decades. Popple worked for a short period at the Board of Trade of Plantations in 1727, while his brother Alured was Secretary of the Board of Trade. It would have been apparent to both Popple brothers that there was an increasing need for maps substantiating English claims to lucrative lands. Popple's goal was to illustrate British colonial possessions in America relative to the claims of France and Spain. 

Although the map bears Popple's name, the actual draftsman was the Channel Islander Clement Lempriere, a military cartographer attached to the Corps of Engineers and later Chief Draftsman at the Tower of London. Evidently Popple and Lempriere had access to a number of important manuscript and printed sources and compiled these in the making of this remarkable map of British possessions. For the lower Mississippi and the layout of the Great Lakes, Delisle's 1718 Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississippi was consulted. They relied on Nicholas de Fer's La France Occidentale dans L'Amerique Septentrionale to delineate Spanish settlements on the Rio Grande and territory west of the Mississippi Valley. The southeastern colonies are taken from John Barnwell's manuscript of about 1721, on deposit at the Board of Trade and Plantations, which included the most current information on Indian settlements in the interior. For New York and the region south of the Great Lakes, Popple culled information from Cadwallader's Colden's Map of the Country of the Five Nations. 

In early spring of 1734, Popple was also able to incorporate significant changes to South Carolina and Florida based on new information from James Edward Oglethorpe who had just returned from the Georgia settlement.