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Map of the District of Maine From the Latest and Best Authorities.
Boston: Published by Cummings & Hilliard, No. 1 Cornhill, 1815. Engraved by W. B. Annin, Boston. Hand colored engraving, 40” x 25.5” plus margins. The rare first state of Moses Greenleaf’s first map, published when Maine was still a district of Massachusetts. The product of unprecedented efforts to compile the best-available information, especially regarding central and northern Maine, this map surpassed all earlier representations of the District, most notably Osgood Carleton’s map of 1801. It provided both government officials and Maine’s citizens with a more accurate picture of the region’s geography and resources, and contributed much to the movement toward statehood, achieved five years later. While a number of maps preceding Greenleaf’s had depicted the Maine coastline with reasonable accuracy, none—most notably the first “official” map, issued in 1801 by Osgood Carleton—had depicted the central interior in much detail. Indeed, these maps left much of central and northern Maine blank or included fanciful mountains and bodies of water. Greenleaf’s map, on the other hand, contains a wealth of new detail. For instance, here for the first time Moosehead Lake is shown in its entirety and with a certain degree of accuracy, along with the most detailed depiction yet of the Moose River drainage and various lakes and ponds to the west of Moosehead. To the north, a number of previously uncharted lakes and river systems appear, including Chesuncook Lake and lakes identified as “Ahpmoojeene-Gamook,” “Wahlahgis-Squegamook,” and “Bungah-Quohem,” which appear to correspond to today’s Chamberlain, Eagle and Umsaskis Lakes, as well as other lakes and ponds in the region. Also notable is more extensive mapping of the headwaters and tributaries of the Penobscot and St. John Rivers. Due east of Chesuncook Lake, Mount Katahdin—the state’s highest mountain—appears for the first time on a printed map of Maine and very likely for the first time on any printed map. Organizational changes in the District since the publication of Carleton’s 1801 map are reflected in the addition of three counties: Oxford, Somerset, and Penobscot (While the latter wasn’t incorporated until 1816, Greenleaf apparently considered its formation a done deal at the time of publication). One curious and intriguing feature of the map is the representation of the northeastern boundary. Whereas all previous maps show this boundary running essentially due north all the way to the mountains dividing the St. Lawrence and Maine drainages, that on Greenleaf’s map runs due north then angles to the northwest before reaching the mountains. The basis for this alteration remains a mystery. In the two later states of this map (1820 and 1822) the border terminates where the angle formerly began and a note has been added, reading “Waters falling into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.” In Greenleaf’s later maps the border simply runs due north to the mountains. While numerous inaccuracies and uncertainties remained, Greenleaf’s first map set the stage for the increasingly accurate series of maps that he and his son would publish over the next three decades. As Greenleaf himself noted:
in general it is correct as can be expected, until a new survey of the whole, corrected by celestial observations, under the immediate inspection of persons properly qualified for the purpose, shall furnish better materials than are now existing. And, until this is done, a perfect map of Maine cannot be obtained.
In his later maps, Greenleaf would go a long way toward achieving that goal. Moses Greenleaf, Jr. Renowned as Maine's most important map-maker, Greenleaf (1777-1834) was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, the eldest of the five children of Lydia and Moses Greenleaf, Sr. The family moved to New Gloucester, Maine in 1790, where they engaged in farming. In 1799 Moses Jr. opened a store in New Gloucester, then relocated to nearby Poland, before removing to Kenduskeag in 1803 and settling in Bangor by February of 1804. In 1806 Greenleaf purchased from William Dodd of Boston one-quarter of the township of Williamsburg, north of the Waldo Patent. Under contract to serve as Dodd’s agent for the settlement of the township, Greenleaf began building a house on his land in 1809, moving his family there in 1812. He lived there until his death in 1834. Soon after settling in Williamsburg—essentially a wilderness outpost at the edge of largely uncharted territory—Greenleaf began to work in earnest on his map, while also gathering data for his book, A Statistical View of the District of Maine, published in 1816 as a companion volume to the map. It is unclear when Greenleaf first conceived of an improved map of Maine, but he began collecting data on the District as early as 1803, as documented in a letter to the Massachusetts Legislature. He also owned a manuscript map dated 1806, entitled “Plan of that part of the county of Hancock lying on the Piscataquis & its branches” (collections of the Maine Historical Society), of which he may or may not have been the author. Of more certain authorship are a number of maps by Greenleaf of Williamsburg and other townships in the region, held by the Maine State Archives. In addition, Greenleaf owned a copy of John Norman’s map based on Osgood Carleton’s first large map of Maine (sold by this firm in 2016) with his ownership inscription on the verso dated 1806—the year he purchased land from Dodd. While presumably of some use to Greenleaf, the Norman/Carleton map would nevertheless have had limited utility and likely contributed to his growing awareness of the need for an improved map of the District. According to Walter Macdougall, Greenleaf’s “first intention was to produce a map of the interior.” As it turned out, what began as a land purchase and a need for a better regional mapping grew into a full-fledged ambition to produce a proper map of the future state of Maine. Greenleaf’s sources included previous publications, his own surveys and explorations, and correspondence with knowledgeable individuals in the field. The initial fruits of his efforts included the present map; state II of 1820 (the first map of the state of Maine); and a third state in 1822. In 1829, Greenleaf published a second, more expansive and considerably more detailed map, embracing not only the state of Maine, but also a considerable portion of New Brunswick. This map was updated and re-issued multiple times, first by Greenleaf himself, and after his death, by his son, Moses Greenleaf III, through 1846. In conjunction with his 1829 map, Greenleaf also published Atlas Accompanying Greenleaf’s Map and Statistical Survey of Maine--the first atlas of the state--along with Survey of the State of Maine, an updated version of A Statistical View of the District of Maine. Greenleaf’s maps neatly coincide with the period covering Maine’s movement toward statehood (achieved in 1820) to the final resolution of its present-day boundaries, and are closely associated with the formation of state’s identity. Regarding Greenleaf’s contributions, Samuel Lane Boardman perhaps put it best:
We do but justice to a remarkable man, now almost forgotten, by saying that Mr. Greenleaf through his published writings and his accurate and beautiful maps, did more than any other man to make known to two states the value and importance of Maine while it was simply a district under the Government of Massachusetts…Mr. Greenleaf was the real state-maker of Maine. (Samuel Lane Boardman, Introduction to Moses Greenleaf : A Biography, Bangor, 1902) A handsome example of this rare and influential map. REFERENCES: Smith, Edgar Crosby. Moses Greenleaf: Maine’s First Map-Maker (Bangor, 1902), #48 and pp. 6-15; MacDougall, Walter M. Settling the Maine Wilderness (Portland, 2006), pp. 20-21 and p. 89; Thompson, Edward. Important Maine Maps, Books, Prints and Ephemera (Orono, 2003), #113; Thompson, Edward. Printed Maps of the District and State of Maine, 1793-1860 (Bangor, 2010), #27, pp 79-97; Ristow, Walter W. American Maps and Mapmakers (Detroit, 1986), pp. 94-96; Phillips, P. L. A List of Maps of America in the Library of Congress (Washington, 1901), p. 383.
Item #10068
Price: $27,500.00
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