[Norman, John] | Among the earliest maritime charts of the Georgia and South Carolina coasts

[Norman, John]

A Chart of South Carolina and Georgia. [Boston: John Norman, 1794]

Copper-engraved sea chart (sheet size: 543 x 435 mm); expert marginal restoration, one or two stray spots.

Among the earliest maritime charts of the Georgia and South Carolina coasts published in America, here in the rare first state.

The chart shows the area from the St. John's River, Florida, in the south, to John's Island, South Carolina, in the north; at the lower right is a large inset of Charleston Harbor. It is one of the earliest American charts of the coast, preceded only by Mathew Clark's very rare chart of 1790. This map was originally published as part of the first edition of John Norman's The American Pilot in 1791, and appeared in this state in the subsequent 1792 and 1794 editions. The present first state includes the "Shule's Folly" reading in the inset, an error which was corrected for the 1798 and subsequent editions of The American Pilot.

The American Revolution brought to an end Britain's leading role in the mapping of America. The task now fell to the American publishing industry, still in its infancy, but with first-hand access to the new surveys that were documenting the rapid growth of the nation. In particular, there was a need for nautical charts for use by the expanding New England commercial fleets. The first American marine atlas, Mathew Clark's A Complete Set of Charts of the Coast of America, was published in Boston in 1790. Two of Clark's charts had been engraved by John Norman, who was inspired to launch his own enterprise. In January 1790, Norman published a notice in the Boston Gazette stating he was currently engraving charts of all the coast of America on a large scale. These were assembled and published as The American Pilot in 1791. Norman's Pilot, the second American marine atlas—indeed the second American atlas of any kind—marked an advance over the earlier work of Mathew Clark.

(See preceding lot.)

REFERENCES:

Wheat & Brun Maps & Charts Published in America before 1800 600; Phillips 821 (second issue); cf. Wroth, Some Contributions to Navigation 32-33

PROVENANCE:

Museum of the City of New York (deaccessioned)