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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.

20/11/2024

Today in 1739 Vice Admiral Edward Vernon sailed into the bay of Portobello in modern Panama. His sailors and marines quickly seized the Castillo del Hierro labeled Irou Castel on the map. The British forces then turned on Santiago Fortress, labeled Castell Gloria. By morning the Spanish surrendered. The capture of Portobello in the War of Jenkins’ Ear led to the naming of Portobello Road in London, Porto Bello’s in both Virginia and Maryland, as well as districts in Dublin and Edinburgh. Admiral Vernon inspired George Washington’s brother Lawrence to name his home Mount Vernon. Lawrence Washington sailed in the subsequent missions against Cartagena, Panama and Cuba. Here the contemporary map Portus Pulchri in Isthmo Panamensi printed by Homann’s Heirs in 1740.

10/11/2024

Today in 1775 the United States Marine Corps was created by the Second Continental Congress “to serve as landing forces with the fleet.” Their most famous missions included the taking of the Tripolitan city of Derna in 1803 in the First Barbary War referenced as “the shores of Tripoli in the Marines’ Hymn. Here the shores of Tripoli on Seutter’s Africa Iuxta Navigationes… printed by Mattheus Seutter in 1725.

05/11/2024

Today in 1605 Guy Fawkes was captured under the Houses of Parliament before he could set off the gunpowder amassed to assassinate the king. The Gunpowder Plot is still celebrated with bonfires and the burning of “The Guy” in effigy. The practice evolved in the American colonies into Pope Night with anti-catholic protests which survived until 1892. Here Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae, Sive Britannica: Insularum Desriptio. Spanish edition first printed by Ortelius in 1609.

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.

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