Description
First edition, second issue of A Topographical Description Of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina by Thomas Hutchins, published in London in 1778, with maps.
Octavo, [2], [ii], 67pp, [1]. Full red morocco, title in gilt on spine, five raised bands. This work is the second issue, which lacks an errata leaf, with the corrections noted incorporated into the text. Top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. Label remnant on spine, small loss of leather at heel. Catalogue number in pen on first page of preface.
Complete with two maps and a fold-out table. Maps include “A Plan of the Rapids, in the River Ohio,” and “A Plan of the Several Villages in the Illinois Country, with Part of the River [Mississippi],” both in near fine condition, only a trace of transference, solid at hinges. (Sabin 34054) (Howes H846) (Field 744) (Graff 2029)
This work was published simultaneously with Hutchinson’s “New Map of the Western Parts of Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina” in 1778, the most comprehensive map of the Ohio River Valley of the 18th Century.
Thomas Hutchins (1730-1789) was an American military engineer, surveyor, and cartographer who made significant contributions to early American maps. He served as a British officer during the French and Indian War and later as a surveyor for the British government, mapping areas of the Ohio River Valley. Hutchins was appointed the Geographer of the United States in 1781 by the Continental Congress, and developed the Public Land Survey System. He was instrumental in the surveying and mapping of the Northwest Territory, including the creation of the “Plan of the District of Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio” in 1785, laying the groundwork for the westward expansion of the United States.
