Manuscript Map on Vellum Depicting Colonial Governor of Massachusetts Sir Francis Bernard's Royal Land Grant of the Region of Coastal Maine on Either Side and Including Mt. Desert Island, and Inland a

by BERNARD, Sir Francis (1712-1779), and Francis MILLER, Surveyor (1733-1800)

$285,000 · Offered by Biblio

New England, 1765. Pen, ink, and wash on vellum, done on a scale of approximately 1 inch per 9 miles. Later cartouche on paper mounted to the lower right corner, reading "Map of Sir Francis Bernard's American Estate and the Adjoining Country." Mounted to board. Provenance: Sir Francis Bernard, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts (1712-1779); by descent to Robert Spencer Bernard, Nether Winchendon House, Buckinghamshire, England. An incredible eighteenth-century manuscript map on vellum accomplished for Massachusetts Colonial Governor Sir Francis Bernard: among the earliest English surveys of the interior of Maine, and shows Mt. Desert Island. In November 1969, noted historian of cartography William P. Cumming discovered in the family home of Sir Francis Bernard "a collection of maps that, in purpose and type, differed so markedly from the more usual military, coastal, and general colonial maps of the time that it stands out in both interest and importance. These were domestic maps, of a gentleman's estates and the roads to them." [Cumming] Specifically describing the present map, Cumming writes: "This beautifully drawn map, in black ink with bays, rivers, and lakes colored in green, shows the coast from Broad Bay past Penobscot Bay and its islands, to 'Passmaquiddy Bay' and Saint Croix River. The shoreline from Mount Desert Island to Passamaquoddy Bay is unmarked. The course of the St. Croix River to the Grand Lakes, the Penobscot to Chesuncook Lake, and the upper reaches of t

• Year: 1765
• Binding: unknown

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