Catesby, Mark (sold)
Mark Catesby (March 24, 1683 - December 23, 1749) was a British artist, scientist, and explorer active in the early to middle parts of the 18th century. He was born at Castle Hedingham, Essex, England, the son of a gentleman farmer and a prominent local politician. John Ray, a famed English naturalist and family, friend inspired Catesby to study natural history. When his father died, in 1712, he accompanied his sister, Elizabeth and her husband William Cooke, a member of the Virginia colony governor’s council, to Virginia. This was his first voyage to the Americas, where he remained for the subsequent 7 years, traveling through Appalachia and to some of the West India Islands, including Jamaica. During his travels he produced meticulous illustrations of the flora and fauna he encountered. On his return to London, the Royal Academy, then headed by Sir Isaac Newton, were so impressed with his work that they raised funds for a second voyage. Catesby returned to the America’s in 1722, arriving in Charleston. In the subsequent 4 years, he traveled throughout the Carolina, Florida, and the Bahamas, observing animal and plant life, and laying the groundwork for his seminal work, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, considered to be the first fully-illustrated natural history of North America. His work was highly influential, inspiring a new generation of natural historians, including Carl Linnaeus (1707 - 1778) and John James Audubon (1785 - 1851). Catesby died at his home in London where he was buried in the St. Luke Old Street churchyard, aged 66.
Important colonial period map of the American Southeast - with seashell and coral cartouche!
A Map of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands with the Adjacent Parts.
sold
- Digital Map Information
- Suitable for large format printing
- DPI: 300
- File Size: 9.49 MB
- File Type: ZIP / TIFF
- ICC color profile embedded
- Delivered instantly via download link
A fine example of Mark Catesby’s rare 1743 / 1771 map of the southeastern parts of North America. This map is considered one of the finest maps of the colonial era American southeast. The map covers from the Mississippi River and from Cape Charles and Cape Henry to Jamaica, including all of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Cuba, Hispaniola, the Bahamas, Porto Rico, and parts of the Yucatan. Among other features, the map is notable for its remarkable cartouche design, which includes shells, corals, and seaweeds indigenous to the Americas. The map is furthermore an important reference for early forts, Indian tribes, English factories, and more in the southeast. The river systems of Georgia and Carolina are particularly impressive in their detail. (more details)