Calvert, Franklin - Articles of Agreement..., with Framed Map of Maryland, Pensilvania [sic], and part of Virginia

Articles of Agreement Made and Concluded Upon Between the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary of Maryland and the Honourable the Proprietarys [sic] of Pensilvania, [sic] &c. Touching the Limits and Boundaries of the Two Provinces. With The Commission, Constituting certain Persons to execute the same, by Charles Calvert, Third Baron Baltimore, printed by Benjamin Franklin, Philadelphia, 1733, 18 pp., printed wraps, watermarked laid paper, 12-7/8 x 8-1/4 in., folding map has been removed and framed separately; uncolored woodcut map on laid paper, sheet 16-3/8 x 12-3/4 in.; modern parcel gilt frame, 26 x 22-3/8 x 1-1/2 in.

Provenance: Sessler's Bookshop, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (accompanied by write up); Christie's, New York, NY, "Printed Books and Manuscripts", December 19, 2002, lot 213 (tag); Private Collection

Note: Following decades of unsuccessful attempts to resolve the exact location of the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania, Lord Baltimore petitioned the king to order the Penns to settle the border dispute. Attempting to avoid additional legal expenses, the proprietors of both colonies agreed to meet in London to reach a private settlement with London lawyer and colonial agent Ferdinando John Paris serving as mediator. In order to establish the boundaries, each of the proprietors submitted a map for reference. At Lord Baltimore’s insistence, his erroneous map (lot 1, Visscher) illustrating Cape Henlopen 25 miles

below its true location, was used to as a guide determine the southern boundary of the three lower counties on the Delmarva Peninsula. The map was delivered to London cartographer John Senex to be engraved on copper. Three manuscript documents, penned on vellum outlining the terms of the agreement and containing the Senex map as an inset, were distributed to each of the proprietors.

One of Thomas Penn’s copies of the agreement was given to Benjamin

Franklin from which he printed 500 copies in pamphlet form, each accompanied by a woodcut version of the inset map by Senex. It has been suggested that Franklin himself, who had experience making woodcuts for printing, may have copied the London map. This is the first map printed in the English colonies south of New York. Despite the fact that Franklin printed 500 copies of the agreement, today they are exceedingly rare.