PBA Galleries

Comprises:

• Eerste Gedeelte der Kaart van de binnenlanden van Louisiana, door Z.M. Pike. (Zie de aanwijzingen op de IIe. Kaart)... 43x43.5 cm.
• Kaart der Binnenlanden van Louisiana, vervattende alle de tot dien tijd onbekende landen. tuschen de Rivier Plata ten N. de Roode Rivier ten Z. Mississippi ten O. en de bergen van Mexico ten W. Met een gedeelte van Nieuw Mexico en der Province van Texas... 39x37 cm.
• Kaart der Mississippi, van deszelfs oorsprong tot aan den mond van den Missouri... 22.5x70 cm.

Together, 3 copper-engraved maps.

The three important and finely engraved maps from the Dutch edition of Pike's explorations, "Reize Naar Nieuw-Mexico en de Binnenland van Louisiana..."  Though there is cartographic originality to the maps, Pike did adapt in part from the map of Mexico left in Washington by the geographer Alexander Humboldt, without acknowledgment, which led Humboldt to write a letter to Thomas Jefferson complaining about the plagiarism. Nonetheless, as Wheat notes, the first two maps listed above "were the first maps of this entire region to display knowledge derived from actual exploration, and although some authorities seem to have taken delight in belittling Pike's achievements, these maps of the Plains areas west from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains and through an important portion of those mountains are maps of outstanding historic interest..." These Dutch publications of the maps are delicately engraved on fine paper, and quite attractive in addition to their cartographic significance. They are considered the rarest of the published maps of the Pike expedition. See Wagner-Camp 9:4; Wheat Transmississippi 297 and 298.