BEAURAIN, le Chevalier de.

Lot 28
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Estimation :
3000 - 4000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 6 500EUR
BEAURAIN, le Chevalier de.
Map of Septle America. To serve the intelligence of the War between the British and the Insurgents... Paris, chez l'Auteur, rue Gillecoeur, 1777. Boundaries in old collar. Copy with wide margins. Slightly yellowed paper, large wetness in the left margin and small wetness in the lower left part affecting the map, traces of folds. High-contrast copy. 420 x 620 mm. -  Second state of this extremely rare separate publication. This separately issued map is one of the most beautiful of the thirteen American Colonies from the Revolutionary War period. It is also one of the earliest continental maps to focus on the conflict. The Chevalier de Beaurain was Royal Geographer to Louis XVI. At the time, France was secretly aiding the colonies, and the map was intended as a propaganda document to prepare the public for the moment when it would become propitious for France to enter the war on the American side. That moment came in early 1778, shortly after the British defeat at Saratoga. Beaurain used John Mitchell's famous map of 1755 as a base map and shows all of North America as far west as the Great Plains. But he has modified and updated Mitchell's political boundaries. The Southern English colonies no longer extend indefinitely to the west, but now have their western boundaries at the Mississippi River. The new Canadian province of Quebec, founded in the 1760s, has been added in, and numerous changes and additions have been made in the Midwest and deep South. The large and very decorative inset at lower right gives a detailed close-up look at the Mid-Atlantic colonies. The entire map is heavily ornamented, with a roccoco title cartouche at upper-left, and a lavish depiction of Mars, the God of War, watching Fame proclaim the new country. The map is known in three states, which can be identified as follows:  - State 1 : Title of the inset reads: Carte de la Nouvelle York d'une partie de la Nouvelle Angleterre et de la Pensilvany.  - State 2 : Inset title has been altered to read Carte de Nouvelle York de la Nouvelle Jersey, d'une Partie de la Nouvelle Angleterre de celle Pensilvany du Maryland et de la Virginy.  - State 3 : A folding flap has been pasted to the lower margin of the inset, which extends the geography south to Chesapeake Bay. This example is in second state: There are substantial changes between the first state and the second state. Lake Champlain is significantly revised, most notably in the south, as is Lake George. The upper Hudson River is also significantly revised above Albany. In the inset, there are dozens of new place names added. - Sellers & Van Ee #149; McCorkle, B.B. (New England) 777.3.                          
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