This scarce map covers Virginia through New England, the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie and extends west to the confluence of the Ohio and Kentucky Rivers. The map is filled with detail of the colonies, as well as settlements, forts (including Fort Detroit), and Indian villages west of the Ohio River. There is great detail of the Swedish settlements, particularly along the Delaware River and in southern New Jersey. There are several interesting notations such as where to locate coal, salt and whetstones, and the place where elephant bones were found along the Ohio River. The map is among the earliest maps to identify Petroleum in western Pennsylvania, near present-day Titusville where the first oil well was drilled nearly a century later.

The map was issued to illustrate Peter Kalm's book of his travels and adventures in the region. Kalm’s work is one of the most important and reliable eighteenth-century accounts of American natural history, social organization, and political situation. It also provides important accounts of the American Swedish settlements. This is the more decorative and rare Dutch version, engraved by Carel Jacob de Huyser.

References: McCorkle #772.3; Seller & Van Ee #727; Howes #K5.

Condition: B+

A crisp impression, originally issued folding, that has been backed in tissue to reinforce and repair a tear that extends 1.5" into the image at top right and several short fold separations. There is light soiling along the left neatline and an archivally repaired chip in the top blank margin with some loss of the publisher's imprint above the neatline.