File:Carte de la Virginie et du Maryland Dressée sur la grande carte Angloise de Mrs Josué Fry et Pierre Jefferson, Par le Sr Robert (MAPS 49).jpg

Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1686 or 1688-1766) was a French cartographer and Royal Geographer who succeeded Pierre Moulart Sanson in 1730. As a descendent of the Nicolas Sanson family, he had many of Sanson's map plates. He and his son, Didier, combined Sanson's plates with those of Hubert Jaillot's plates after his death in 1712. Combining the map plates and thoroughly revising the earlier engravings, the family created the "Atlas Universel" (1750-1757), a work that exemplifies "exceptional precision and great beauty" (Portinaro and Knirsch, 317; Moreland and Bannister, 136). Gilles' work includes: Sanson's "Guerre Rhein" (1735), "Atlas Portatiff" (1748) "Petit Atlas" (1748) and "Amérique" (1767) (Tooley, 541; Moreland and Bannister, 136).

Elizabeth Haussard was an engraver. She worked for the Robert de Vaugondys from 1749 to 1757 and Bellin in 1759. Her work includes "Greece" (1752) and "Luxemburg" (1753).

This map was first published in 1757 in Robert de Vaugondy's "Atlas Universel" as map 100. This particular map is the first of five states of the map, evident in the faint signature of Elizabeth Haussard, the line marking the "Limites du Lord Fairfax" and a the Pennsylvania boundary line running north to south between 297 degrees and 298 degrees East. Some historians date this state of the map as late as 1760, about the time that Gilles Robert de Vaugondy was appointed Géographe Ordinaire du Roi (Dumas, 15-16).

This map was based on a map first published in 1754 by American mathematician, Colonel Joshua Fry (c.a. 1700-1754) and Peter Jefferson, a surveyor, a planter and father of Thomas Jefferson. Fry and Jefferson were commissioned to survey the boundary between Virginina and North Carolina and worked on this survey from 1749 to 1751. Combining their surveys with earlier work done in western Virginia by John Dalrymple, they created a map of Virginia, Maryland and borders of surrounding colonies in 1751. Their map had a strong influence on later maps created of Virginia and became popular through the publication of it in Thomas Jefferson's "North American Atlas" (1775-1776) (Tooley, 229, 335; Goss, 126).

Source(s):

Goss, John. "The Mapping of North America: Three Centuries of Map-making 1600-1860." London: Wellfleet Press, 1990.

Malone, Dumas. "The Fry and Jefferson Map of Virginia and Maryland: Facsimiles of the 1754 and 1794 Printings With an Index." University of Virginia Press: Charlottesville, 1966.

Moreland, Carl and David Bannister. "Antique Maps: A Collector's Handbook." New York: Longman Group, Ltd., 1983.

Portinaro, Pierluigi and Franco Knirsch. "The Cartography of North America 1500-1800." New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1987.

Copper engraving handcolored with watercolor. Outline color. Relief shown pictorially. First state of map. Printed in cartouche in lower right corner: "Carte de la Virginie et du Maryland Dressée sur la grande carte Angloise de Mrs. Josué Fry et Pierre Jefferson, Par le Sr. Robert de Vaugondy Géographe ordinaire du Roi. Avec Privilege 1755.." Printed in lower right corner beneath title cartouche is a scale comparing geographic miles, English marine leagues and miles to degrees. Printed beneath scale along bottom edge: "Gravé. E. haussard." Printed in the center of the left border: "Occident." Printed beneath bottom border: "Midi." Printed in the center of the right border: "Orient." Printed in the center of the top border: "Septentrion." Shows Virginia and Maryland as well as the most northern part of "Caroline," a small portion of "Louisiane," the most southern edge of Pennsylvania, Delaware and the southern tip of New Jersey. Shows the "Limites du Lord Fairfax" in the northwestern region of Virginia. Depicts Delaware as "De La War Counties." Displays many counties throughout Virginia including Fairfax, Prince William, Stafford, Spotsylvania, Hanover, Goochland, Albemarle, Louisa, King and Queen, Gloucester, King William, Richmond, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Lancaster, James City, Henrico, Cumberland, Prince George, Surrey, Lunenburg, Wick, Southampton, Isle of Wight, Nandsemond, Norfolk, Princess Ann, Northampton, Accomack, Caroline, Essex, Middlesex, York, Warwick, and Elizabeth City Counties. Also depicts counties in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey including: Baltimore, Ann Arundel, Charles, St. Mary's, Dorcester and Talbot Counties in Maryland; Newcastle, Kent and Sussex Counties in Delaware; and Salem, Cumberland, Cape May and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey. Shows Chesapeake and Delaware Bays as well as major and minor rivers in Virginia and Maryland including the Patuxent, Patapsko and Susquehanock Rivers in Maryland and the Potomac or "Patoumak," the Rappahannock, the York and the James Rivers in Virginia. Labels several of the mountain ranges in western Virginia including the Blue Ridge, the North Ridge, Devil's Back Bone, the Peaked Ridge, and the Allegheny Mountains. In southern Virginia crossing the border with North Carolina, "The Dismal Swamp" is shown with "A Lake" in the northern end of the swamp. Major cities and towns are depicted including Williamsburg, Jamestown, Richmond, Petersburg, Frederick and Fredericksburg in Virginia; Annapolis in Maryland; Wilmington or "Walmington" in Delaware; Philadelphia in Pennsylvania; Salem and Greenwich in New Jersey; and Foyle in Louisiana. The cartouche is decorated with foliage. Scale: c.a. 1:880,000. [West 80 degrees-West 74 degrees/North 40 degrees-North 36 degrees

• Subjects (LCSH): Virginia-Maps-Early works to 1800.; Maryland-Maps-Early works to 1800.; Middle Atlantic States-Maps-Early works to 1800.