Description

TITLE TRANSLATION: Part of America, now called Virginia, first discovered by the English, taken up by Sir Walter Raleigh, Knight, in 1585 A.D….

PUBLICATION DETAILS: Published in Theodore de Bry, Wunderbarliche, doch warhafnewlichftige Erklärung, von der Gelegenheit vnd Sitten der Wilden in Virginia…. (Frankfurt, 1590). A t the left border: Autore Ioanne With Sculptore Theodoro de Bry, Qui et excud. This acknowledges John White as the author of the map and Theodore de Bry as the engraver.

BACKGROUND: The story in this book containing g this map takes place beginning in 1585 on Roanoke Island in what is now Dade County, North Carolina. Queen Elizabeth (the First) had granted Sir Walter Raleigh a charter to colonize the part of America north of the Spanish claim for Florida. This new land was named “Virginia” in honor of the virgin queen. At the time of this book, Virginia covered the area from Maryland to the border of Florida.  Raleigh appointed Ralph Lane as governor. Thomas Hariot was the documentarian and John White the surveyor (and cartographer). De Bry’s book is based primarily on their work. Americæ pars, nunc Virginia covers the coast from Cape Fear to the Chesapeake Bay. It is the first separate map of “Virginia” and the first printed record of Raleigh’s attempt to establish a colony in North America. Burden states: The map concerned depicts the area from Chesapeake Bay to Cape Lookout. It exhibits greater knowledge than on any of the surviving manuscripts. Possibly this is from knowledge gained during White’s brief visit in 1587 and signifies some lost manuscripts. Here we find the first printed use of the name Chesapeake, Chesepiooc Sinus, and the second of Roanoke (the first being Mazza). It depicts the positions of the Indian villages in the area and is adorned with the Royal Arms of England. The Latter’s ships are shown at sea with Indian canoes traversing the inland waters. The two native scenes shown are taken from illustrations in the book”

IDENTIFICATION OF THE MAP: The double-page map of Virginia (Plate I in the table of plates, but not numbered) has Latin text in the two cartouches and is the same for the four languages and all editions of de By’s book, Part I (Virginia), Grand Voyages). There is one known exception to the design. In his carto-bibliography #76, Burden identifies three “states”, all pertaining to the beginning “C” in the title of the Indian village “Chesepiooc” (Chesapeake), which is located on a river left of the Chesapeake Bay. However, Burden indicates those three states bear no relation to the editions of the book. So, it is impossible to attribute the map to a particular edition of de Bry once it is removed from the book, or if it had been replaced during restoration of the 434 year-old book. Those three states are:

State 1. Ehesepiooc.

State 2. The letter “C” engraved over the “E”; both still visible.

State 3. The error hammered out, burnished, and replaced by “C”.

RARE THIRD STATE: This map has the correct engraved “C”, which is superimposed over less-intense images of the middle bar and the upper and lower extensions to the left of the original letter E. State 2 has a very dark letter “C” superimposed over the very dark letter “E”.  The “C” over “E” were not completely hammered out and burnished before the letter “C” was again added. See this error on the enlarged view of the map above. State 3 is on another map of ours and both maps were compared to a State 2 to confirm the difference. 

CONDITION: Lightly toned.  Narrow margins. Fold line (as issued). Strong engraving.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Burden, Philip D. The Mapping of North America. Rickmansworth: Raleigh Publications, 1996;

Church, Elihu Dwight. A Catalogue of Books Relating to the discovery of North and South America.  New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1907. [Number 176 for the book.]

Vavra, Luke A. Exploration and Colonization of the New World 1492-1619: An Analysis of the German Editions [of] Theodore de Bry’s Part I (Virginia) 1590 and Part IV (Caribbean) 1594 of the Grands Voyages. 98 pages.  Self- published, 2023. [Available on this site.]

William C. Wooldridge, Mapping Virginia: From the Age of Exploration map #145, p.155.