1785 Tardieu / Crevecoeur Map of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

Creating the American Dream: Martha's Vineyard for Europe.

This is the earliest obtainable separate map of Martha's Vineyard, published in 1787 to illustrate Michel-Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur's enormously influential Lettres d'un Cultivateur Américain. Appearing just years after American independence, the map helped introduce European readers to the Vineyard as part of Crèvecoeur's compelling vision of the new United States - a land of prosperous farms, abundant natural resources, independent communities, and seemingly limitless opportunity. Crèvecoeur's writings profoundly shaped European perceptions of America and encouraged immigration to the young republic, giving this map significance far beyond the early cartography of Martha's Vineyard. It is both an important early map of the island and a visual artifact of the powerful ideal of America that Crèvecoeur helped create.

A Closer Look

Martha's Vineyard dominates the map, with coverage extending westward across the Elizabeth Islands, north to the mainland and Buzzards Bay, and south to Nomans Land. Despite its modest dimensions, the map contains considerable detail. Roads traverse the Vineyard between its scattered settlements, while ponds, swamps, woodland, pastures, beaches, hills, and other natural features give an unusually intimate picture of the island's late 18th-century landscape.

Identified locations include Edgartown, Tisbury Town, Tisbury Wood Land, Chappaquiddick (Chapoquidick), Eel Pond, Peat Swamp, Squibnocket Pastures, Gay Head, and Cape Poge Pond. The map marks two meeting houses, along with numerous smaller habitations and landmarks. The map delineates the Elizabeth Islands individually, while the mainland coast includes Bedford (New Bedford), Falmouth, and the road to Boston.

The map is particularly interesting for the amount of descriptive information incorporated into the geography. Notes identify marshes, grazing lands, woodland, peat deposits, and other resources, while soundings and navigational features appear in the surrounding waters. A numbered French key in the upper right identifies ten additional locations and features, including Starbuck Point, the house of Beriah Norton, Dr. Mayhew's island, marshes, meadows, and a field of maize. Although prepared for a French publication, much of the geographical nomenclature remains in English, preserving the distinctly American character of its source material.

Letters of an American Farmer

The map was prepared for the French edition of Michel-Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur's celebrated Letters from an American Farmer, one of the most influential European accounts of life in the newly independent United States. Crèvecoeur presented America as a society of independent farmers inhabiting a landscape of extraordinary abundance and opportunity. His observations helped shape European perceptions of the young republic and contributed to the powerful image of America as a place where ordinary Europeans might acquire land and build prosperous new lives.

Martha's Vineyard occupied a special place in Crèvecoeur's work. His descriptions of the island and neighboring Nantucket let him explore isolated maritime communities whose inhabitants had adapted to distinctive local environments. The present map gave French readers a geographical framework for those observations, locating the farms, settlements, pastures, roads, and natural features that populated his narrative.

The work proved enormously influential. Howes described it as a 'description of American life of great influence in attracting European immigration in the post-revolutionary period,' and praised it as literature 'unexcelled by any American work of the eighteenth century.'

Publication History and Census

The map was engraved in 1785 by Pierre-François Tardieu, whose imprint appears below the lower border, and published two years later in the 1787 French edition of Crèvecoeur's Lettres d'un Cultivateur Américain. It derives from the map accompanying the 1783 English edition of Letters from an American Farmer, but Tardieu substantially refined the presentation, producing a more elegant and accomplished engraving for the French audience. A companion map of Nantucket was issued in the same work.

As such, the present map occupies an important position in the early cartography of Martha's Vineyard. While preceded by the map in the 1783 English edition, these Crèvecoeur maps represent the earliest separate printed maps devoted specifically to the island, with Tardieu's 1785/1787 version being the earliest obtainable in this more sophisticated, engraved form. Separate examples are desirable and appear only occasionally on the market.

Cartographer

Pierre François Tardieu (1711 - 1771) was a French engraver and mapmaker active in Paris during the middle part of the 18th century and a member of the large and prolific Tardieu family. Several members of the family established themselves as engravers, and, for over 200 years, the family produced works. Pierre Francois Tardieu was born around 1711 in Paris, son of Jean Tardieu. His uncle, Nicolas-Henry Tardieu, taught him the art of engraving. Pierre was a general engraver whose work was not limited to maps but also included historical and genre works. Many of his maps are extremely significant and include some of the finest French productions of the period. Tardieu had his office at Rue de al Corderie, Paris. Tardieu was married to Marie-Anne Rousselet (1733-1826), whose family included the engraver Gilles Rousselet and the sculptor Jean Rousselet. It is highly likely that Pierre Francois Tardieu was succeeded by Pierre Antoine Francois Tardieu (1757 - 1822), who is also possibly his son, as the latter continued to engrave under the P. F. Tardieu imprint well after the former's death.   Further Details...

Source

Crevecoeur, Michel Guillaume St. Jean de, Lettres d'un Cultivateur Ameriquain, (Paris) 1787.    

Condition

Very good. Faint stain; marginal mend at insertion point with no impact to image.

References

Phillips (America), p. 389. Howes, W., U.S.iana (1650-1950): A Selective Bibliography in which are Described 11,620 Uncommon and Significant Books Relating to the Continental Portion of the United States, #C883.