Oldmixon's British Empire in America

The British Empire in America, Containing the History of the Discovery, Settlement, Progress and present State of all the British Colonies, on the Continent Islands of America. OLDMIXON, John (1673-1742). London: for John Nicholson, Benjamin Tooke, Richard Parker, and Ralph Smith, 1708. 2 volumes, 8vo (7 5/8 x 4/48 inches). 2-page publisher's advertisement at the end of volume II (leaf Bb8). Engraved frontispiece folding maps: "A New Map of North America" and "A New Map of the Island of Barbados;" and five further maps of "A New Map of Newfoundland," "New England, New York, New Jersey, and Pensilvania &c.," "A New Map of Virginia, and Maryland," "Carolina, A Map of ye Island of Bermudos," "The Island of St. Christopher's," and "A New Map of the Island of Jamaica" by Herman Moll (one or two small marginal nicks, some very minor marginal spotting). Fine contemporary sprinkled calf, the spine in six compartments, black gilt lettering-piece in one (a little rubbed, one or two surface abrasions). "Mr. Dockwra and Dr. Cox were both so kind as to inform him fully of the Jerseys, and Mr. Pen did him the Same Favour for Pensylvania" (Preface). First edition. Oldmixon was a prolific political writer of poesy, and mainly English history. This work gives a separate accounts of the history and economy of each British American colony, and includes Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New England, and all the colonies to Georgia, Hudson's Bay, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and the West Indies. In his Preface he credits many influential contemporary sources: "the History of New-England, publish'd by Cot. Mather, furnished him with what events he has mention'd relating to that Colony.When he wrote of New-York, he corrected the mistakes which others had led him into, by better information from Capt. Congreve, who has had a command in the regular forces there several years. Mr. Dockwra and Dr. Cox were both so kind as to inform him fully of the Jerseys, and Mr. Pen did him the Same Favour for Pensylvania; those three Gentlemen doing him the honour to admit him to their friendship. (Oldmixon - Preface). Herman Moll, who created the beautiful maps for Oldmixon's account, emigrated to London from Germany in about 1675. By 1678 he is recorded as working for the map-maker Moses Pitt as an engraver and frequenting famous Jonathan's Coffee House, where he mingled with the likes of Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, the buccaneers William Dampier and Woodes Rogers, John Oldmixon, Thomas Salmon, Samuel Simpson, and for all of whom he made maps to accompany their works."Moll first gained notice in London in the late 1670s as a fine engraver working for map publishers such as Moses Pitt, Sir Jonas Moore, the royal hydrographer Greenville Collins, John Adair, [Jeremiah] Seller and [Charles] Price, and others. What can be identified as his two earliest maps-'America' and 'Europe' respectively-and bearing the imprint 'H. Mol schulp.' appeared in Moore's 'A New Systeme of the Mathematicks Containing … a New Geography' in 1681… Moll worked increasingly independently. He published his first solo volume, the now rare 'Atlas Thesaurus' in 1695, and in 1701, by which time he worked completely on his own, he published his first major work, 'A System of Geography' [as here], an informative global geography with a full complement of crisp, straightforward maps that sold initially for 18s. a copy. Although relatively traditional and derivative, it helped to establish him as an independent geographer-cartographer: "Moll's reputation rests upon a long and extremely fertile career of almost sixty years that yielded a diverse offering of over two dozen geographies, atlases, and histories and a myriad of individual maps, charts, and globes, spanning the known earth. Through his many works, he had also had an impact beyond geography and cartography on his adopted country and its future by graphically staunchly advocating early British expansion and empire" (Dennis Reinhartz for DNB). Howes O61; Kress 2597; Sabin 57157. Guidance: Swann Galleries, 2009 - $4,080