An impressive, four-sheet map of North and South America, originally drawn by John Gibson in 1763 with a slightly different title. The map went through several revisions; this being the final state. The huge map is filled with incredible detail and is based on D'Anville's cartography, as well as Spanish explorations on the west coast of North America and the journals of Governor Pownall in New England and Canada. The new United States is shown with its boundary on the Mississippi River. In the west are two possible locations for a River of the West; one with its source at Pike's Lake, the other further north at Lake Winnipeg. A Chinese colony, Fou Sang is shown in present-day British Columbia. At lower left is an inset map of Hudson and Baffin's Bay. Above the inset is a large text panel listing of the states and the colonial possessions of the various European powers. The baroque style title cartouche features a beaver, a crocodile, an Indian headdress amid trees, a waterfall and tropical flora. This example is joined in two long, horizontal sheets, joining the two northern and the two southern sheets. If fully joined, the map would measure 46.5 x 40.7".

References: Tooley (America) p. 52, #3.f; McGuirk #112.

Condition: B+

A nice impression with contemporary color, some color offsetting, several faint damps stains, and a few extraneous creases along the folds. There are a couple of tiny fold separations confined to the blank margins. The bluish shadows along the left-hand fold are caused by our scanner and do not appear on the map itself. The first image is a composite image - the map is only joined horizontally.