COLLECTION NAME:
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
Record
Author:
Pittman, Philip, active 1760-1770
Date:
1770
Short Title:
A plan of Cascaskies.
Publisher:
J. Nourse
Publisher Location:
London
Type:
Atlas Map
Obj Height cm:
26
Obj Width cm:
48
Scale 1:
5,000
Note:
Map of Cascaskies [Kaskaskia], Illinois. Shows town plan, roads, topography, vegetation and drainage. Features the shoreline of the Kaskaskia River, a tributary of the Mississippi River. Relief shown with hachures. Indexed to identify particular buildings. Includes a bar scale, given in feet, and a compass rose, with north oriented toward top of sheet. Black and white engraving. Map is 26 x 48 cm, on fold-out sheet 54 x 36 cm. Accompanied by descriptive text, spanning pages 42-43.
City:
Kaskaskia (Ill.)
Region:
Mississippi River
Region:
Kaskaskia River (Ill.)
Subject:
Nautical Charts
Full Title:
A plan of Cascaskies. Thos. Kitchin sculpsit.
List No:
14327.035
Series No:
35
Engraver or Printer:
Kitchin, Thomas, 1718-1784
Publication Author:
Pittman, Philip, active 1760-1770
Pub Date:
1770
Pub Title:
The present state of the European settlements on the Missisippi; with a geographical description of that river. Illustrated by plans and draughts. By Captain Philip Pittman. London, printed for J. Nourse, Bookseller to His Majesty. MDCCLXX.
Pub Reference:
Reference: Thurman, Cartography of the Illinois Country: An Analysis of Middle Mississippi Maps Drawn during the British Regime; : Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984) , Winter, 1982, Vol.75, No. 4 (Winter, 1982), pp. 277-288; Vail 602; Clark 2: 53; Streeter sale 3: 1519; Graff 3302; Howes P396; Sabin 63103; Weddle "Changing Tides", 1995, pages 45-48.
Pub Note:
The present state of the European settlements on the Missisippi, by Captain Philip Pittman and printed for J. Nourse, London, 1770. Bound in half red leather over contemporary boards, with spine and corners redone. Gilded spine title and abbreviated statement of responsibility: Mississippi, Pittman. Front and back covers decorated with faded, abraded marbled papers. Quarto. Collation: 4° : [2] [i-v], vi-viii, [1], 2-99, [3], with [8] leaves of plates throughout (first two and last three pages blank). Comprised of 8 maps engraved by Thomas Kitchin, including the strip map, Draught of the river Missisippi, appearing in 3 sheets. Maps show towns, roads, topography, vegetation, lakes, shorelines and water depths. Maps are indexed and include bar scales, compass roses and arrows pointing to the direction of water flow. Atlas includes a preface, introduction and descriptive text associated with maps. First English book to describe the Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans, and the first survey of the River to use scientific survey tools. Pittman provides a settler’s first-hand account of the Floridas and Illinois country. Pittman was a surveyor, and his maps include a chart of the Mississippi as well as plans of Mobile, New Orleans, Kaskaskia, and Fort Rosalie. Pittman's narrative is rich in political, social and military detail on the territory newly acquired by Great Britain through the Treaty of Paris, 1763. It is the earliest English account of these settlements. Among the more historically significant features of his work, Pittman describes the importance of the far west as a means of strengthening England's hold on the area, just five years prior to the American Revolution. Pittman states that his report was submitted in manuscript for the “perusal of the secretary of state for the colonies”. At the time the British had little first-hand information about French and Spanish settlements along the Mississippi, so his account was a most valuable addition to the record, useful to both British policymakers and members of the military and civil administration in the American Colonies. Pittman`s account has been described as a “A classic of the Mississippi Valley,” “the most authoritative work in English on the Mississippi Valley on the eve of the Revolution” and “a work of primary importance, one of the significant works on the West of the pre-Revolutionary era.” (Reese) Pittman was a British Army engineer and cartographer, and was stationed at Fort de Chartres in the later part of the 1760s. He was later stationed in the Illinois Territories. In 1764, he traveled up the Mississippi to New Orleans and during uring his five years in the Gulf coastal region of Louisiana and West Florida he made numerous surveying expeditions. Reference: Thurman, Cartography of the Illinois Country: An Analysis of Middle Mississippi Maps Drawn during the British Regime; : Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984) , Winter, 1982, Vol.75, No. 4 (Winter, 1982), pp. 277-288; Vail 602; Clark 2: 53; Streeter sale 3: 1519; Graff 3302; Howes P396; Sabin 63103; Weddle "Changing Tides", 1995, pages 45-48. Provenance: pencil inscription on front pastedown reads: "Cost me $42.00 Jan 8-98-- S. L. Kingan". Samuel L. Kingan of Tucson, Arizona, was a lawyer, early Arizona patron of the arts and painter of desert, ranch, and nocturnal landscapes.
Pub List No:
14327.000
Pub Type:
Regional Atlas
Pub Type:
Geography Book
Pub Maps:
8
Pub Height cm:
29
Pub Width cm:
23
Image No:
14327035.jp2
Authors:
Pittman, Philip, active 1760-1770
