PBA Galleries

Copper-engraved map/chart. 56x85 cm (22x33½").

Large-scale chart depicting the North Pacific Ocean from Japan and Russia to North America. Although the focus of the map is the discoveries of Captains Bering and Chirikov around Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, the map includes extensive information in North America, extending to Baffin Bay, Hudson Bay, and Lake Erie in the east and to Point Conception, California, and Fort Assumption along the Mississippi River (in present-day Tennessee) in the south. The cartography of the lake and river systems in North America is fascinating. Bellin omits the Sea of the West that appeared on his 1755 map of Canada and the US, but includes a dotted line denoting the River of the West connecting to several rivers and lakes before reaching Hudson Bay. This is the second state, with "No. 99" at the upper right, and the lower left bearing the Depot de la Marine stamp with fleur-de-lis, and the price "Prix trente Sols".  Wagner 610. Kershaw 1126,