In 1612 John Smith’s map, simply titled Virginia, appeared on the market in London and was an immediate success. Shown below is an image of the imprint of Smith’s map with the engraver’s name, William Hole.
Detail from Smith’s “Virginia”
Over the next century several publishers brought out their modified versions of Smith’s map. Some versions were larger, some smaller, some with different titles, all with different imprints, most with modified or different decorative art, but all retaining the basic geography and orientation of Smith’s map. So, too, the map published in Richmond, Virginia in 1819 bore a close resemblance to Smith’s. In fact, the Franklin Press had reset Smith’s The True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of Captaine Iohn Smith …and The General History of Virginia and re-engraved three of the plates as follows:
Volume 1, The True Travels, containing a portrait of Captain Smith and three plates: 1. The map “Virginia” with a new imprint: “Discovered and Described by Captayn John Smith 1606”.
Detail from 1819 “Virginia”
Note that this 1819 version corrects the spelling of the word “Discribed” on the original. This 1819 map is a re-engraving of State 10 of John Smith’s map and is the first American reproduction of Smith’s map. The style of the engraving on this new copper plate is different from the original, and the phrase “Graven by William Hole” was omitted since the reference to William Hole was no longer true.
2. Plate: “Part of the Travels of Capt Iohn Smith, amongst Turkes, Tartars and others extracted out of the History by Iohn Payn” with nine separate images.
3. Plate: “A description of part of the adventures of Cap Smith in Virginia” with ten images of Indians and their activities. At the bottom center is the map “Ould Virginia” originally by Robert Vaughan.
Volume 2, The General History, containing Smith’s crest as the frontispiece, but no maps.
This is the first American reprint of the original two-volume work dated 1629. In this work Smith provides an account of his early life and his subsequent adventures in a fascinating (perhaps fanciful) illustrated autobiography. This reprint was financed at a heavy loss by Rev. John Holt Rice, D.D. (1777-1831) and published at the Franklin Press, reportedly the best printing shop in Virginia at that time. The printer was William W. Gray. The Library of Virginia now holds the 1819 engraved copperplate used to print this map.
So, now you know. It’s easy to distinguish between the original and the reprint. The 1819 reprint omits the engraver’s name previously shown below the dividers and map scale at the bottom center of the map.
Tales from the Map Cabinet by Luke A. Vavra
Z13B26
MAPS SOLD
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