MAP, South Carolina, Sanson

Foundation Map of South Carolina - First State. Colonial South Carolina, Charleston. Sanson/Mortier, Carte Particuliere de la Caroline Dresse sur les Memoires le Plus Nouveaux, from Suite de Neptune Francois, 1700 (circa). Hand Color. This important, scarce map of the coastal region around Charleston is the first map of South Carolina published outside of England. It is based on the extremely rare Thornton-Morden chart of circa 1695, which in-turn was based on a manuscript map by Maurice Mathews (1685). Centered on Charleston and the Cooper River, the map extends from the Edisto River in the south to the Santee River in the north. It provides the names and locations of dozens of early landowners around Charleston and along the coastlines and the major rivers. It also notes a number of Indian villages and shows early roads in the interior. The Santee Indian Fort, Farelaunes [Fairlawn], and the homestead of Maurice Mathews are depicted in Colletons Barony along the Cooper River. Sir John Colleton was one of the eight proprietors of the Carolina Grant, a member of the Council for Foreign Plantations and of the Royal African Company, which introduced slavery into the British possessions in North America. According to Burden, this is the first state of the map with the imprint of Pierre Mortier and lacking a plate number at lower right. This is a foundation map for Carolina map collections as it is generally regarded as the first obtainable map of the region to appear in a commercial atlas.

LITERATURE: Burden #768; Cumming (SE) #121; Potter p. 20.
Dimensions: 23.5 x 18.9 in
Condition Report: Original outline color with some cracking due to the oxidation of the green pigment primarily along the Cooper River (upper middle portion of the image) that has been expertly repaired on verso. Several other minor cracks have been repaired on verso with archival tape. The sheet has been professionally remargined at top, bottom and left. Grade: B+