Lot 82
Americae pars, Nunc Virginia dicta - 1590 White De Bry Map of Virginia, "Americae pars, Nunc Virginia dicta primum ab Anglis inuenta sumtibus Dn. Walteri Ralegh…." ("Part of America, now called Virginia, first discovered by the English, taken up by Sir Walter Ralegh, Knight, in 1585 A.D., in the twenty-seventh [year] of the reign of our most serene Queen Elizabeth; the history whereof is truly described by this special book and also by the images of the natives included.") Engraved by Theodore De Bry, based on John White's 1585 map. Published with Thomas Harriot's A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia in Vol. 1 of Theodore de Bry's Great Voyages. Map is 12 x 16 inches; sheet is 14¼ x 19¼ inches. Burden described this map as "one of the most significant cartographical milestones in colonial North American history. It was the most accurate map drawn in the sixteenth century of any part of that continent. It became the prototype of the area until long after James Moxon's map in 1671."
This was the first printed map to focus on Virginia, and the first to name Chesapeake Bay and Roanoke. It records the earliest English attempts at colonization in the New World, depicting the Virginia area before the calamitous end of the original Roanoke colony in 1590. The area shown is from Cape Lookout to the Chesapeake; many of the parts depicted are now North Carolina.
This map is in its original condition, with full, original, broad margins. It is lightly toned but has never been cleaned, bleached, or relined. With decorative cartouches for the title, the motto of the British Order of the Garter ("Honi soit qui mal y pense"), and the scale of leagues. A small cartouche at left says, "Autore Ioanne With / Sculptore Theodore de / Bry, Quiet excud." Numerous ships fill the water, as well as a wind rose and a sea creature with two spout holes. There are several small depictions of Indians in canoes and on land. Truly one of the finest examples extant.
Estimated Value $18,000 - 22,000,
Ex Clive Burden,
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