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The Map Chest

Patrick and Anette Ahrens The Map Chest specializes in original antique maps printed between 1500 and 1800.

We also offer, on a smaller scale, a few antiquarian books. In keeping with our cartographic interests, the antiquarian books we offer are geographies, atlases or travel books printed in the same period.

29/10/2024

Today in 1665 King Antonio I, or Mvita a Nkanga, King of Kongo, was decapitated by the Portuguese at the Battle of Mbwila in modern Angola. The loss of the king ended two centuries of Kongolese resistance to the Portuguese as the region descended into civil war. The king’s head was ceremonially buried in Luanda, labeled on this map Loanda. Here Aethiopia Superior vel Interior vulgo Abissinorum printed by Willem Bleau circa 1630.

25/10/2024

Today in 1764 John Adams of Quincy, Massachusetts married his third cousin, Abigail Smith, overriding the objections of her genteel mother. The second first couple had six children, four of whom survived, served their country as representatives to Paris and London, moved the US capital to Washington, DC, were the first family to live in the White House, and marked 54 years of marriage three days before her death. Here Massachuset from Part of North America, comprehending The Course of the Ohio, New England, New York… printed by John Barrow circa 1760.

17/10/2024

Today 200 years ago the Marquis de Lafayette visited Mount Vernon to pay his final respects to his commanding general. On his 1824 tour of the country, he visited all 24 states where crowds gathered to see the last surviving general of the Revolutionary War. Called the "National Guest," he visited John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams. Here the Capital area on Edward Baines' United States of America of 1816. Six states were added between the publication of this map and Lafayette’s visit: Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, and Missouri. Ohio and Louisiana are not yet labeled either.

09/10/2024

Today in 1762 the forces of Frederick the Great of Prussia forced the unconditional surrender of the Austrian troops defending the fortress of Schweidnitz. The siege had lasted two months culminating with the demolition of the garrison gunpowder magazine by undermining. As a result, Silesia returned to Prussia in the peace ending the Seven Years’ War. This map of the siege, Plan der Koenigl. Preuss’s. Belagerung und Eroberung der Festung Schweidnitz vom 7ten Aug. bis 9.ten Octbr. 1762 was printed by M. Keyl in the book Beitraege zur Kriegskunst in 1768.

07/10/2024

Today in 1777, Continental forces led by Generals Gates seized the opportunity of British General Burgoyne and his staff reconnoitering to attack. Gates called on Daniel Morgan’s sharpshooters who put bullets into Burgoyne’s horse, hat and waistcoat. Still a patriot, Benedict Arnold took the field energetically, resulting in a shot to his leg. The battle ended in a decisive victory for the Americans. Here Plan of the Encampment and Positions of the Army under His Excellency Lt. General Burgoyne as printed in A State of the Expedition from Canada as laid before the House of Commons by Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, Second Edition, printed in London in 1780. Note that the Continental Army is labeled The Enemy’s Camp and colored yellow on the map. Additionally, north is at the bottom. Finally, Arnold’s patriot leg is memorialized at the battlefield.

30/09/2024

Today in 1659 in the novel, Robinson Crusoe, our hero is shipwrecked. Scholars debate actual shipwrecks that may have inspired Daniel Defoe; however, Alexander Selkirk's survival on the San Fernandez Islands off the coast of Chile is a frontrunner. Here a sailing ship along that coast on Danckert's Novissima et Accuratissima Totius America Descritio circa 1690. Yas de Iuan Fernando are labeled five north of the underlined la Conception.

17/09/2024

Today in 1775 Brigadier General Richard Montgomery led American troops in laying siege to Fort St. Jean following the victory at Fort Ticonderoga. The siege lasted a long seven weeks, resulting in another victory for the American forces and a promotion for General Montgomery. Still the delay meant worse weather and more illness for the poorly supplied troops. Montgomery had never gotten word of his promotion when he fell in Quebec. Here Ft. St. John on Thomas Jeffers An Exact Chart of the River St. Laurence printed that year.

03/09/2024

Today in 1838 Frederick Douglass boarded a train in Baltimore wearing a sailor’s uniform and carrying papers provided by his future wife, Anna Murray. He switched to ferries to cross the Susquehanna and the Delaware Bay, reaching New York City and freedom at the end of 24 hours travel. He later wrote, “A new world had opened before me.” Trace his route on Tanner’s A New Map of Maryland and Delaware printed circa 1845.

27/08/2024

Today in 1177 Pope Alexander III sent a letter to the legendary Prester John via his physician Philip. The legend of a church leader descended from the Three Magi persisted for five centuries and moved from India to Ethiopia. Here the Land of Prester John on Ortelius' Presbiteri Iohannis, Sive, Abissinorum Imperii Desriptio of 1584.

21/08/2024

Today in 1781 Elizabeth Freeman’s case Brom and Bett vs. Ashley was argued before a jury in Great Barrington, MA. Her lawyer argued that the Massachusetts Constitution had declared all people free and equal. The jury ruled in her favor, and Freeman, later called Mumbet, won her freedom. Her case set precedent and led to other successful suits and to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts two years later. Here Machasuzet from Carte de la Partie Nord, des Etats Unis, de l’Amerique Septentrionale, printed by M. Bonne circa 1785.

15/08/2024

Today is Independence Day in India. While we currently celebrate India's independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, this map of Asia by Gerard Mercator in 1613 dates to the era of Shah Jahan, fifth Mughal emperor, most well known as the builder of the Taj Mahal. At its height, the Mughal Empire was the world's largest economic power and controlled a quarter of the world's economy.

25/07/2024

Today in 1609 the ship Sea Venture wrecked on the coast of Bermuda to avoid sinking. This event led to the British claiming the island. News of the wreck inspired William Shakespeare to write The Tempest. John Rolfe, en route to Virginia, lost his wife and found a sweet strain of to***co which he eventually brought to his intended destination. He would later marry Pocahontas. Here John Speed’s landmark map of Bermuda from 1626.

17/07/2024

Today in 1821 the Kingdom of Spain formally ceded the territory of Florida to the United States. Andrew Jackson’s incursions into Florida in the First Seminole War had made defense of the region untenable. Here La Florida by Ortelius printed circa 1584, twenty years after the first Spanish settlement there at Fort Caroline.

19/06/2024

Today in 1865 the Emancipation Proclamation was read out to enslaved African Americans in the most remote slave holding state of Texas, two months after the surrender at Appomattox. Jubilee Day was celebrated the following year in Austin and Houston. Juneteenth is now recognized as a Federal Holiday. Here Texas on Johnson's United States map of that era. Happy Juneteenth!

19/05/2024

Today in 1619 Jens Munk set sail with 65 men searching for the Northwest Passage under the sponsorship of Christian IV of Denmark. He returned two years later with two fellow survivors and published his account in Copenhagen. This Map of Groenland depicting his discoveries was published by Herman Moll in London in 1704. Note the location of his winter camp at the far west and his naming of Christian’s Sea, now the upper Hudson Bay.

13/05/2024

Today in 1717 Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina was born in Vienna. For forty years she ruled the Hapsburg dominions in her own right, refusing to defer to either her husband or to her son. She gave birth to sixteen children, ten of whom survived to adulthood and marriages of alliance. Perhaps the most famous of these was Marie Antoinette of France. Here Vienna on Lazium’s Austiae Descrip. printed in 1603.

05/05/2024

Today in 1602 Sebastian Vizcaino set sail from Acapulco, New Spain on an expedition to locate safe harbors in California for Gaspar de Zuniga, 5th Count of Monterey. Half the crew perished, and missions were not built in upper California for another 150 years. Nevertheless, Vizcaino chose place names that persist to this day: San Diego Bay, Bay of Monterey, Santa Barbara Channel, Point Conception, Point Lobos, the Carmel River, and more. Cette Carte De Californie et Du Nouveau Mexique printed by Nicolas de Fer in 1705 reflects the continuity of these place names over a time span of four centuries.

30/04/2024

Today in 1598 Juan de Oñate formally claimed all land north of the Rio Grande at modern El Paso for Spain. Here the Americas as understood in 1598 on Munster’s Americae Sive Orbis Nova Descriptio from the Cosmographia. This woodcut map, printed in 1588 by Sebastian Petri updated the 1540 map, yet includes the misshapen South America among other mistakes.

26/04/2024

Today in 1564 William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford Upon Avon. No one knows the exact date he arrived in London, but when he retired back to Stratford around 1613, he left a body of work considered the most influential in the English language. Here on Ortelius’ Angliae, Scotiae et Hiberniae, Sive Britannicar: Insularum Desriptio. Stratford is Stretford, straddling the Avon, and north is to the right. Londen straddles the Thames at the detail’s lower left.

21/04/2024

Today in 1789 John Adams was sworn in as our first vice president in the capital of New York City, more than a month after his term began. Meanwhile, that same day, George Washington was feted by the ladies of Trenton, NJ. His inauguration would be delayed until April 30th. Here the nascent United States on Bonne’s Carte de la Partie Nord des Etats Unis, printed circa 1785.

15/04/2024

Today in 1736 Theodor Stephan Freiherr von Neuhoff, a German adventurer, was crowned King of Corsica. His reign only lasted until November of that same year. Twice incarcerated in debtors prisons, first in Amsterdam, then in London, he is one of six kings in Venice mentioned in Voltaire’s Candide. Here Corsica on Covens & Mortier’s Nova Italia Descriptio of that era.

08/04/2024

Today is Buddha’s Birthday, or Hana Matsuri, Flower Festival, as celebrated in Japan. While Siddhartha Gautama was born in modern Nepal, the many Asian nations that follow his path use different lunar calendars. His birthday falls in April or May in most nations. In Japan a painting depicting the Buddha’s birth is displayed at Sensoji Temple and worshippers visit. Here Asia ex magma orbis terre descriptione printed in 1613 by Gerard Mercator.

02/04/2024

Today in 1513 La Florida was named by Ponce de Leon for its verdant landscape and for the Easter season. Easter was called Pascua Florida, Festival of Flowers in Spain. He continued to explore the coastline for the next several weeks. La Florida Aucture Hieron Chiaves was printed on the same page as Guastecan Reg. by Ortelius in 1608.

24/03/2024

Today in 1663 King Charles II granted a charter to eight of his closest supporters in the Restoration as the Lord Proprietors of Carolina. The grant stretched from Albemarle Sound in the north to the modern border of Georgia and Florida in the south, a land area larger than the size of Great Britain. The southern border is clearly delineated on Herman Moll’s Map of Carolina printed in 1728, this copy appearing in the 1739 Dublin edition.

22/03/2024

Today in 1615 Katherine Jones, Vicountess Ranelach, was born in Youghal, Ireland. Sister to Robert Boyle she collaborated with him in his experiments. He credited her as “a great Lady,” but her contributions to his work were ignored by later biographers. Additionally she may have hosted the “Invisible College” and met with leading scientists of the day. She had a laboratory built at her London house for Boyle’s work. Youghal is Ionghul on Ortelius’ Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae, Sive Britannicar: Insularum Desripio. first printed in 1609.

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