Sign up to receive email notices of recent acquisitions.

Des Barres, J. F. W.

[Penobscot Bay to Blue Hill Bay, Maine].

[London, ca. 1780]. Engraving on two joined sheets, 30.25” x 43.25” (sheet size), hand-colored border. CONDITION: Good, trimmed close at top and bottom, with loss of a portion of neat line at top and all of neat line at bottom, lower portions of longitudinal figures at bottom nicked, original fold marks.

A fine chart depicting a portion of the Penobscot Bay region of Maine, from the most celebrated maritime atlas of the eighteenth century.

Published in London around 1780 in The Atlantic Neptune, J. F. W. Des Barres’s landmark four-volume maritime atlas of North America, this chart depicts the islands of Vinalhaven (called Southern Fox Island until 1789), part of North Haven, Isle au Haut, Matinicus Isle (spelled Metimicus), and the area around Owl’s Head. It demonstrates a precise knowledge of the location of numerous smaller islands, ledges and rocks, the hazardous nature of the latter two being of particular significance to those navigating the waters of the region. Two rhumb line networks cover Penobscot Bay, with a north arrow (and a smaller one indicating magnetic north) shown on the western side. Depth soundings appear around the most important islands and harbors. From a semantic viewpoint, the highlight of this chart has to be “Ragged Arse Island.”

The lack of good charts during the Seven Years War generated complaints among British military engineers and naval officers, leading to several large-scale surveying projects of the North American coast, including newly-gained territory in Canada. Des Barres’ surveys represented just a portion of the massive charting initiative, though he is given credit for assembling these various charts into atlas form. 

The Atlantic Neptune, is considered the most comprehensive and important maritime atlas of the 18th century. It was published several times after 1774 and includes engraved plates from many distinct British surveying efforts, most dating to the late 1770s and early 1780s. Des Barres was paid by the Admiralty for his work, but allowed to keep the rights to plates. Due to the ongoing nature of the surveying effort, Des Barres was constantly reconfiguring his atlas as new surveys emerged. Consequently, there is considerable variation among the various copies of The Atlantic Neptune in terms of binding, organization, and contents.

J. F. W. Des Barres (1721-1824) was a Swiss-born military engineer and cartographer. Trained in mathematics under Daniel and Jean Bernoulli, he moved to England to study at the Royal Military College at Woolwich. In 1756, he received a lieutenant’s commission in the Royal American Regiment and recruited soldiers in the American colonies to join the fight against the French in the Seven Years War. He joined General James Wolfe’s Quebec campaign and worked on various engineering and surveying projects in Canada. In 1763, Des Barres accepted a commission to survey the coasts and harbors of North America. He first worked alongside the Surveyor General of North America, Samuel Holland, later undertaking his own surveys while Holland continued in parallel. Though there was substantial overlap, Des Barres’ work, in contrast to Holland’s land surveys, focused on producing charts for maritime use. These regional charts were considered to be the most accurate for decades. Des Barres’s atlas owed much to Holland’s maps—which he obtained from the Board of Trade and Plantations—and the work of other contemporaries.

REFERENCES: Brown, Lloyd A. “The Atlantic Neptune.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 67, No. 4 (1943), pp. 377–81.

Item #3547

Price: $3,500.00

Add to Wish List