Map of North America according the Newest and Most Exact Observations

Monumental map of North America showing California as an island and with a vignette of cod drying. Often known as the Cod Fisheries Map.

This large and splendid map of North America is one of the most recognisable maps of the continent published in the early 18th century. It is one of a triptych of maps dedicated to this landmass issued by Moll in his famous atlas “The World Described”; the others are the “Beaver Map” showing the east coast or the English possessions in North America, and the third is the map of the United States, detailing French claims to the interior and inviting a reaction to these new geopolitical aspirations.

The geographical sources for the map are almost certainly those used for the other maps in the same series. The Gulf coast and the southern United States is based on de L’Isle’s map of the same region issued in 1718. As in Moll’s other map of the United States, this region is now named Louisiana, as opposed to the more orthodox and less inflammatory, Florida. The east coast is based on Nathaniel Blackmore for the Nova Scotia region and Thomas Beresford and Richard Nairn for the South east coast. Newly introduced on this map is the mythical Long River or River of the West leading from the Mississippi. This attribution is given to the explorations of Baron Lahontan. The river is shown as sourcing from a large lake in the high mountains surrounded by several settlements. The lake would not survive geographically for very long but it would later metamorphose into the equally mythical Bay of the West approximately forty years later. The river would persist in appearing on most maps of North America for almost a century.

Hudson’s Bay shows the voyages of Hudson in the early 17th century although these are conjectures while another voyage shown there is of Thomas James in 1631-2 which proved that there was no obvious water way west of the Bay. Despite this set back, Moll hints at another western water way from Baffin’s Bay and also draws a phantom inlet north of California entitled Straits of Anian, a long held belief that Marco Polo knew of an entrance for the Northwest Passage from the Pacific. The island of California is loosely based on Sanson and Dutch sources and ignores new reports from the Jesuits which connect the “island” onto the mainland.

The Caribbean region also holds great interest as it shows the route of the Spanish Flota, or treasure fleet. A panel on the lower right prints instructions for the movement of the Flota. Another panel on the right, above the Tropic of Cancer, describes how new nomenclature in North America is being enacted by the French. There is also a date on this panel of 1712, although it is believed that the first edition of this map was actually published c.1717-1718.

The left side of the map is highly illustrated by a large cartouche and dedication to John, Lord Sommers, a prominent politician of the day and one of the major figures in the drawing up of the Act of Union between England and Scotland in 1707, a large vignette of Cod Fishing on Newfoundland, the second largest commodity in North America after tobacco as well as an inset of ten important ports on the continent. The middle image has led this piece to sometimes be known as “The Cod Fisheries Map”.

From the address in the imprint, this example was printed c.1730. There is light browning on the centre fold but the map does not have the often encountered problems with the extra folds on the left and right of the centerfold. It has wide margins and overall is in very good condition for a map of this size.

Original colour. [AMER2381]