First map of the american colonies under the first hanoverian king - King George I (r. 1714-1727)

THE HANOVERIAN LINE HAS RULED TO THE PRESENT DAY

HERMAN MOLL (1654–1732)
[Beaver Map] A New and Exact Map of the Dominions of the King of Great Britain on ye Continent of North America...
Engraved map with original hand color
Sold by H. Moll over against Deverux Court on the Strand, London, 1715
First Edition, First Issue
Sheet size: 42” x 25”; Frame size: 49” x 31”

THE FINEST ORIGINAL COLOR AVAILABLE IN A MAP OF COLONIAL NORTH AMERICA

Handsome example of the famous “Beaver Map,” Moll’s most celebrated effort as it documents the ongoing dispute between Great Britain and France over the boundaries separating their colonies in America.

The map explains the postal routes throughout the British territories and is generally thought to be the first postal map of the colonies. The striking beaver inset serves to not only symbolize the Puritan industriousness needed to settle in America, but also the lucrative fur trade spreading wealth and opportunity among the colonies. Plate 78 in Schwartz / Ehrenberg “The Mapping of America”.

“One of the first and most important cartographic documents relating to the ongoing dispute between France and Great Britain over boundaries separating their respective American colonies...The map was the primary exponent of the British position during the period immediately following the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713” (Degrees of Latitude).
The British colonies according to British claims are outlined in red, with the French very lightly outlined in blue. All territory south of the St. Lawrence River and eastern Great Lakes is shown as British. Numerous notations relating to territorial claims, Indian tribes, the fur trade, and the condition of the land cover the face of the map. This map shows the early eighteenth-century postal routes in the British colonies, and is frequently called the first American postal map.

There are four insets, including a large map of coastal South Carolina, and a plan of Charleston. At lower left is a map of Florida and the Deep South, which is based on a map by Thomas Nairne, the Indian agent for South Carolina. The most striking feature is the large vignette which gives the map its popular name. It consists of an early view of Niagara Falls, with a colony of beavers at work in the foreground. Pritchard holds that the beaver “was an appropriate image for the North American map for two reasons: the animal’s importance to the fur trade, and its industrious nature.” (Cumming, British Maps 6–12)