952 “Course of the River Mississipi [sic], from the Balise to Fort Chartres...” by Lieutenant John Ross of the 34th Regiment, engraved and published with hand-colored outlines by Robert Sayer and John Bennett, London, 1775. Matted, glazed and framed. plate 45” x 14”, framed 55” x 25‑1/4” Provenance: Private collection of Hugo Wedemeyer, New Orleans, Louisiana. $2,500‑$4,000 This map was the first official English survey of the lower Mississippi region, published at the outset of the American Revolution in Thomas Jefferys’ watershed American Atlas by Sayer and Bennett. It was commissioned by the British government in 1765 to illustrate the scope of the economical and strategical gains it acquired in the French and Indian War. Lieutenant John Ross, a distinguished member of the 34th Regiment of Foot, who served in the siege of Havana and garrison of West Florida, charted the lower Mississippi River from the mouth of the Missisippi (Fort Belise) just south of New Orleans north to Fort Chartres, just south of St. Louis. Ross’ map depicts the River’s course in excellent detail with comprehensive information on boundaries, forts, villages, arable lands and cane fields, as well as navigational data on the depths and soundings of the Mississippi and Gulf for approaching ships. To date, it is one of the most important maps of the late 18th century in terms of cartography and American colonial history.
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953 Four Important Maps of Louisiana and the American South, 1760‑1860 including “New Map of Louisiana”, hand-colored engraving after S. Augustus Mitchell, published by Thomas Cowperthwait, sh.; “Plan of New Orleans, the Capital of Louisiana,” by Robert Benning after L. B. de la Tour’s 1720 rendition, hand-colored and engraved for the London Magazine, 1761, sheet 8” x 10”; “Plan of New Orleans”, color lithograph by Thomas Bradford, Boston, ca. 1841, sheet 6” x 8‑1/4”; and “North America, Sheet XIII, Parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida”, hand-colored engraving by J. and C. Walker, 1840, sheet 14” x 17‑1/2”. All unframed. Provenance: Private collection of Hugo Wedemeyer, New Orleans, Louisiana. $700‑$1,000
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