Carey, Mathew “A Map of the Discoveries made by Captn.s Cook & Clerke in the Years 1778 & 1779 between the Eastern Coast of Asia and the Western Coast of North America . . .” (1795)

Mathew Carey. “A Map of the Discoveries made by Captn.s Cook & Clerke in the Years 1778 & 1779 between the Eastern Coast of Asia and the Western Coast of North America . . . . Also Mr. Hearn's discoveries to the North westward of Hudson's Bay, in 1772.”  From Carey’s American Edition of Guthrie’s New System of Geography.   

Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1795.  7 ½ x 11 ¼ (neatlines).  Engraving by J.T. Scott.  Original outline hand color.  Top margin trimmed to title neat line.  With two vertical folds as originally issued.  Extensive tear skillfully repaired from bottom left hand corner extending islands north of Japan.  Repaired diagonal tear in title extending into map.  Small fill in corner of top right margin.  Light staining in map at bottom and in margin top left.  Else, fair condition. 

An interesting American map of the Pacific Ocean as far north as the Bering Strait and the Artic Ocean.  This map is from the American edition Guthrie’s New System of Geography.  This was issued in 1795 by Mathew Carey, a seminal figure in American cartographic publishing. Carey, an Irish immigrant, established the first American specialized cartographic publishing firm.  He set up an elaborate cottage system of craftsmen for engraving, printing, and coloring his maps utilizing the best independent artists directed to a common end.  Carey is important, then, not only for the excellent maps he produced, but for his setting the pattern for American map publishing, to be followed by the likes of John Melish and Henry S. Tanner.  In this map the explorations of Cook are shown, with the outline of Alaska clearly improved from previous maps, though still somewhat indistinct.  A very early mention of the name “Alaska” appears in the Alaska Peninsula.  A fine early American historic document.