Norman, John
John Norman (1748 - June 8, 1817) was an engraver and publisher in Boston, Massachusetts. Born in England, he apprenticed as a printer under the elder William Faden, father of the mapmaker William Faden II (1749 - 1836). Norman completed his apprenticeship in October of 1773 and shortly thereafter moved to Philadelphia. There he established himself as an engraver, publishing his first map The Theatre of War in North America in 1777. He relocated to Boston in 1781. He is best known for nautical charts, many of which represent the earliest American-produced sea charts of the areas depicted, and are consequently among the most important American printed works of the 18th century. Norman had engraved two of the charts for the first American nautical atlas (Mathew Clark’s 1790 A Complete Set of Charts of the Coast of America). The success of this venture inspired Norman to publish is own atlas in 1791, The American Pilot. This is one of the most important American atlases, and loose examples of Norman’s charts are extremely rare on the market. Norman’s work includes portraits, illustrations and architectural diagrams; he also produced maps for publication in works such as Boston Magazine and Malham’s Naval Gazetteer. He died of typhoid in 1817. His son, William Norman (17?? - 1807) began working with him and fully took over publication of the The American Pilot around 1794.
Beginnings of American commercial chart publishing.
General Chart of the West Indies from the latest Marine Journals and Surveys.
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An important c. 1789 - 1794 nautical map of the West Indies, Florida, the Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico littoral by Osgood Carleton and John Norman. This is the second edition of John Norman's first published nautical chart, representing one of the first instances of post-Revolutionary American commercial chart making, predating the publication of the Clark Pilot by several months. (more details)