Catalog Archive
Auction 95, Lot 166

"Pennsylvania", Sotzmann, Daniel Friedrich

Subject: Pennsylvania

Period: 1797 (dated)

Publication: Atlas von Nordamerika

Color: Hand Color

Size:
17.2 x 25.2 inches
43.7 x 64 cm
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An incredibly detailed, early map. In addition to the excellent topographical and political detail it includes the locations of mills, furnaces, forges, churches, bridle and Indian paths, and individual houses. The large western counties are divided into several large 'districts' including the names of the land owners. This was one of the ten maps completed by Sotzman for Christoph Ebeling's planned atlas of the United States, which was published by Carl Ernst Bohn. These were among the best available maps at the time in terms of scale and level of detail. This ambitious German atlas project faltered and the individual maps now very scarce. Ristow notes that these maps "are among the rarest of cartographic Americana for the closing decade of the eighteenth century".

References: Ristow, p. 169-178.

Condition: A

A bit of minor foxing and marginal soil with some repairs on centerfold, still overall a very good example.

Estimate: $1,600 - $1,800

Sold for: $4,250

Closed on 6/13/2001

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