Price: SOLD
SKU: 102104
PUBLISHER: No publisher noted.
MEDIUM: Engraving printed in madder ink on cotton.
DATE: c.1776
EDITION SIZE: Image size 23 1/5 x 25" (59.6 x 63.5 cm). Overall framed size 27 3/4 x 29 1/8"
DESCRIPTION: The second known example of this striking map printed on calico to illustrate the 1776 British invasion of New York City and surroundings.<br><br> After the British evacuation of Boston and retreat to Halifax in March 1776, the Americans held tenuous control of the East Coast from Maine to Georgia. The reality of the situation was that British mastery of the sea gave them the option to invade the colonies more or less when and where they wished.<br><br> This they did, sending a vast force to take New York City and gain control of the lower Hudson. This was one element of a grand pincer strategy, the other end of which was an attack by General Carleton from Montreal along Lake Champlain-Lake George axis. The broad intent was to cut off New England and leave it essentially undefended. <br><br> Beginning in late June, 1776 the British began assembling in New York Bay a vast fleet of hundreds of transports, more than 70 warships, and tens of thousands of troops commanded by Commander-in-Chief General William Howe and his brother Admiral Richard Howe. Uncertain of British plans and faced with the possibility of landings at any number of locations-on Long Island, on Manhattan itself, or possibly even upriver-Washington and the Continental Army could only dig in and wait. <br><br> The first stroke came on August 22, when the British landed a force of 15,000 on the shore of Gravesend Bay in Brooklyn. On the 26th General Howe sent two columns ahead to attack and occupy American forces encamped in lines stretching from the shore eastward along Gowanus Heights. These disguised the main thrust, an end run through Jamaica Pass far to the east that brought a large British force to bear on the left flank and rear of the Americans. Their left and center collapsed, with those who could retreating (or fleeing) to fortifications at the village of Brooklyn on the East River. <br><br> For reasons still unclear the Brothers Howe failed to press their advantage, and on the night of the 29th Washington, with the help Colonel Glover and his regiment of Marblehead men was able to extricate his trapped forces and ferry them across the East River to Manhattan. The respite was temporary, however, and the British attacked Manhattan itself on the 15th of September. On November 16 they captured Fort Washington, gaining full possession of the island. <br><br> Roughly centered on New Rochel and East Chester, New York, the coverage includes what we would today think of as the New York metropolitan area, thus encompassing the broad theatre of the 1776 New York Campaign.<br><br> The map includes a minimum of military information: an unnamed fort on the east bank of the Hudson just north of Phillipsburgh, Fort Montgomery (begun March 1776) just to the south, Fort Lee (begun July 1776) just across the Hudson from upper Manhattan, and the “Manor of Cortland the great Magazine of the American Army”, probably a reference to the major Continental Army depot and assembly area at Peekskill. The naval vessels in Long Island Sound and New York Bay and on the Hudson represent Britain’s complete naval superiority, though they don’t appear to represent specific events such as the landing at Gravesend on August 22nd. The absence of military detail of the 1776 campaign itself suggests that the map was issued before such information was readily available to the mapmaker.<br><br> The map is a closely related to a very rare broadsheet map published by Rebecca Eynon, dated October, 3, 1776, that map attributed to a merchant who resided in America for 15 years. The obvious similarities include the geographical coverage and the basic format, with both featuring a cartouche and table of distances at upper and center left. However this map is considerably more detailed, adding for example the label “The Woody Heights” for the Brooklyn Heights, “the great Magazine of the American Army”, the Road to Boston and Rhode Island”, and other features.<br><br> It is worth noting that this is one of the earliest known maps printed on cloth and the first map listed in Herbert Ridgeway Collins’ Threads of History, the most comprehensive work on Americana printed on cloth. Textile maps such as this were not intended for practical use, but were rather commemorative items or talking-pieces, that could be pulled out in a society setting to signal the users familiarity with contemporary events or, in the present case, to signal support for the ministry’s prosecution of the war. They were generally produced outside the mainstream map trade, possibly in London, presumably for sale by general retailers of knick-knacks or gentlemen’s clothing. There is however no attribution on the map, and I have found no record of it in the contemporary press. It is even possible that it was produced by Rebecca Eynon herself, for sale at her shop close to the Royal Exchange, in the heart of the City of London.<br><br> This example bears the added appeal of interesting provenance: The old frame bears a brass plaque with the inscription “Presented to India House by John Jacob Hoff, Esq. Paris France”. Hoff was born in New York City in 1860 and lost his parents at an early age. In 1900 he wedded Grace Whitney Hoff of Detroit, with her bringing a substantial fortune to the marriage. They soon moved to France, where they spent the rest of their lives, splitting their time between a mansion on the Avenue Bois de Boulogne in Paris and the Chateau Peyrieu, near Lyon. He served as Standard Oil’s representative in France and was active in the American Relief Unit during the First World War, but the tone of his obituary suggests that he played second fiddle to Mrs. Hoff and her philanthropic activities. He was presumably a member of India House, a now-defunct private club located at One Hanover Square, in New York City.<br><br> In all, a map of the greatest rarity, with the only recorded example held in the textile collection at the Winterthur Museum. Its rarity, visual appeal, and proximity to the events would make it an important addition to any Revolutionary War collection. <br><br>
ADDITIONAL INFO:
CONDITION: Overall in good to very good condition. Upper and lower edges folded and stitched. Cleaned and mended, with some toning, lingering staining, and a few patches to tiny areas of loss, one affecting the word "MAP" in the title.
REFERENCE: Herbert Ridgeway Collins, Threads of History: America Recorded on Cloth 1775 to the Present, #2. Martin Brückner, “The Ambulatory Map: Commodity, Mobility, and Visualcy in Eighteenth-Century Colonial”, Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 45, no. 2/3 (Summer/Autumn 2011), pp. 141-160 (fig.14). Not in OCLC. Not in Nebenzahl.
Login / Register
Basket
