1748 North Polar Projection Map Predicting the July 14, 1748 Solar Eclipse

This elegant, 1748 north polar projection map, was drawn by the English astronomer and writer George Smith and engraved by the great English mapmaker Thomas Jefferys. It was produced for inclusion in Smith's pamphlet describing, and predicting the path of, the July 14, 1748 solar eclipse. Twenty-four diagrams show the expected appearance of the eclipsed sun as viewed from different cities, and the map's notation shows both the areas from which partial or full eclipses might be seen. The map’s polar projection is presented obliquely in order to show all the parts of the known world from which the eclipse would be visible. As a result, Smith and Jefferys provide a snapshot of the general state-of-the-art of geographical knowledge of the northernmost parts of the globe to be reached by Europeans, during a period in which the English were active in their attempts to navigate those waters.

The Northwest Passage

In 1746, English geographical circles were embroiled in a bitter pamphlet war over the presence or absence of a northwest passage connecting to Hudson’s Bay. Captain Middleton’s naval expedition between 1741 and 1743 to Wager Bay proved that such a passage did not exist; but his disappointed patron Dobbs accused the honest captain with falsifying the results of his expedition, and produced three members of Middleton’s crew willing to perjure themselves that Wager Bay was in fact a strait. Dobbs, being politically powerful and wealthy, made sure that ‘Wager Strait’ appeared on a number of maps of the day, including this one. The possibility that such a passage might also exist via Baffin’s Bay is suggested by the presence of several gaps in the coastline of William’s Land in 'Parts Undiscover'd'.

The Northeast Passage

Across a mostly landless Northern Ocean, the long Siberian coastline shows additional reference to extremely current geographical information. The eastern stretch of coastline leaps to its northernmost point at C. Sheleghinski,(Cape Shelagsky, or Мыс Шелагский.) This feature appears for the first time on the 1730 Strahlenberg map as Noss Tsalatskoi, though it likely did not pass directly to Jefferys via the Strahlenberg; his topography more closely resembles that which appears on the Strahlenberg derivative 1739 Homann Heirs Imperii Russici et Tatariae Universae tam majoris et Asiaticae quam minoris et Europae Tabula on which the placename also appears.

The Team

This map appeared in Smith’s pamphlet entitled A dissertation on the general properties of eclipses : and particularly the ensuing eclipse of 1748 considered thro' all its periods,published by the London printer, editor and publisher Edward Cave. Cave produced the monumentally successful and influential Gentleman’s Magazine, to which George Smith of Wigton was a regular contributor to Cave’s masterpiece, writing on a blinding array of subjects. Cave had also begun to rely on Jefferys to engrave maps for the Gentleman’s Magazine; his work begins to appear in 1746. The collaboration of these three figures in this map was a natural extension of their work in Gentleman’s Magazine. Examples of this map also included in the January 1748 edition of that journal do appear.

Publication History and Census

OCLC shows eleven examples of Smith’s Dissertation in institutional collections. The separate map appears in 7 institutional collections.