Carte Particuliere de l'Amerique Septentrionale. [Secondary title:] A Map of the British Empire in America with the French, Spanish and the Dutch Settlements Adjacent thereto by Hen. Popple at Amsterdam

This is the Dutch edition (title in French, the rest of the map in English) of the index map for Henry Popple's monumental 20-sheet map of North America, the first large scale British map of the American Colonies, and the first English map to name all thirteen.

The map extends from lower Canada to northern South America, and from the eastern seaboard as far west as the Mississippi and its western tributaries. Inset views of Niagara Falls (after Father Louis Hennepin, 1698), Mexico City, Quebec (after J.B.L. Franquelin, 1688) and New York City (after William Burgis, 1720) appear in the upper left and right hand corners respectively. On the right is a series of eighteen inset maps depicting Boston, New York, Charlestown, Bermuda, St. Augustine and other places. A handsome cartouche appears in the lower left corner, picturing several native people, an alligator, and two monkeys; a group of European men is seen standing on the beach in the background and several ships are visible n the distance beyond. "Henry Popple published his map during a time of conflict between the English and French in the north in Canada, and in the west in Louisiana, and between the English and the Spanish in the south in Florida. In effect, therefore, the English colonies of the eastern seaboard found themselves entirely surrounded" (Goss).

Henry Popple (d. 1743) was a geographer, mathematician, author and publisher. He served as clerk to the Board of Trade in 1727, and agent for the same to various West Indian governments from 1728 to 1739. His Map of the British Empire in America is the only printed map to his credit. Popple is believed to have had little or no training in mapmaking, and the draughtsmanship is generally credited to his assistant, Clement Lempriere (1683-1746), a military engineer, engraver and cartographer, who served with the British Army and was chief draughtsman at the Tower of London.

Signed by the engraver, Johannes Condet (1711-1781), at lower right.

REFERENCES: McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, 741.3; Goss, The Mapping of North America, p. 122; Phillips, Maps of America, p. 569; Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers.