Description

PUBLICATION DETAILS: An extremely rare and important map of Virginia’s history. Second edition black and white engraving except for the period color Richmond view. Separately published.  46”h x 70”w if assembled.  The title sheet is NOT present; the title is taken from Swem, 397. 
At upper right of southeast sheet: “Copy Right Secured.  Richmond Published 4th March 1807.  By the Proprietors”. 
At lower right of southeast sheet: “Drawn by Wm Davis”.
Upper left of southwest sheet: “To The General Assembly of Virginia This Map is Respectfully Inscribed, by their Fellow Citizens James Madison. William Prentis. William Davis.  Proprietors”.
 
FOUR OF SIX SHEETS:
This offer is for four of the six sheets only (northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest sheets only).  It does MOT include the center two sheets.

THE VIEW OF THE ENTIRE SIX-SHEET MAP IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY
 
BACKGROUND: In 1807 Bishop James Madison (and two others) privately published a large six-sheet map of Virginia, titled as above, in Richmond, Virginia.  The first edition was prepared under direction of Bishop James Madison (president of William and Mary College from 1777 to 1812 and a cousin of President James Madison) by William Prentis, who compiled the map, and William Davis, who made the final drawing.  The map was engraved by Frederick Bossler, an émigré from Switzerland.  According to Stephenson and McKee, p. 139, “The “Bishop Madison map was the first map of Virginia compiled, engraved, and published in the commonwealth.”  The original manuscript map was completed in 1805 and submitted to the Virginia General Assembly with expectation they would fund the map.  But Madison’s request was denied; apparently the General Assembly was not satisfied with his map. So Madison, Prentis and Davis published it themselves, and the map was sold by subscription.  This partially accounts for its rarity.
 
SECOND EDITION: Because of its geographic inaccuracies, changes in county boundaries, and the rapid growth of the roads and cities in Virginia, it had a useful life of only 10 to 20 years.  As result, the map was redrawn by Davis; the six plates were updated and republished in 1818 (after Madison’s death in 1812). 
 
INSETS: There are two important insets on the present sheets: The first is an inset map of Ohio which appears on the northwest sheet; it is one of the earliest maps of Ohio based upon an actual survey.  The second is an 11” x 22” original color engraved view “The City of Richmond Metropolis of Virginia” appearing on the northeast sheet.  Gloria Deák says it is “as comprehensive a topographic portrait as can be achieved within the confines of a small etching plate.  Prominence is given to the state capitol, which commands the scene from its site on the crest of a hill near the center of the view”.  An image of the original etching is shown in her Volume II.  This upper right sheet with its period colored view is highly prized.
 
CONDITION: Excellent condition. Missing the two center sheets.
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Gloria Gilda Deák, Picturing America, 1497-1899: Prints, Maps, and Drawings Bearing on the New World Discoveries and on the Development of the Territory That is Now the United States, #251; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, (1988).

Pritchard and Taliaferro, Degrees of Latitude, #73 showing this second edition on pages 308-309;

Stephenson and McKee, Virginia in Maps, showing the first edition on plates III A-F;

Swem, Maps Relating to Virginia, 376 for the first edition and 397 for the present edition.
N3047