[2], iv, [3]-48 pp. 6 folding map sheets, which form one large map, though each has separate borders and titling. (4to) 24.8x19 cm (9¾x7¼"), period full red calf with elaborate gilt-tooled borders, center of each cover stamped with the arms of a Portuguese marquis.

The very rare and important first edition of John Green's seminal chart of the Americas and seas adjacent, as issued in book form with the Remarks on the chart, in a very nice contemporary binding. Green's large map was highly influential, being the first to assign the name Bering to the strait between Asia and North America, i.e. "Behring's Straits." Besides the significance of the six-part map, the Remarks are of great value in understanding the state of cartographic knowledge at the time. The title of the whole map, which extends across the top of the two northerly sheets, is "A Chart of North and South America, Including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with the nearest Coasts of Europe, Africa, and Asia" The six sheets of the map are separately titled:

• Sheet I: Chart containing part of the Icy Sea with the adjacent coast of Asia and America. 43x52.5 cm (17x20¾").
• Sheet II: Chart comprizing Greenland with the Countries and Islands about Baffin's and Hudson's Bays. 52.5x61 cm (20¾x24").
• Sheet III: Chart containing the coasts of California, New Albion and Russian Discoveries to the North, with the Peninsula of Kamchatka, in Asia, opposite thereto, and Islands, dispersed over the Pacific Ocean, to the north of the line. 42.7x52.3 (16¾x20½").
• Sheet IV: Chart of the Atlantic Ocean, with the British, French & Spanish Settlements in North America and the West Indies. 42.3x60 cm (16½x23¾").
• Sheet V: Chart containing the greater part of the South Sea to the South of the Line, with the Islands dispersed thro' the same. 42.7x52.3 cm (16¾x20½").
• Sheet VI: Chart of South America, comprehending the West Indies, with the adjacent Islands, in the Southern Ocean, and South Sea. 53.3x59.8 cm (21x23½")

H.R. Wagner, Northwest Coast, lists Sheet III as his no. 578, and he comments of the "Remarks" that Green "devoted himself to demolishing the edifice erected by Delisle and Buache in their account of the new discoveries of Admiral De Fonte. He claimed to have rectified the geography of the Pacific laid down by Bellin in his chart of the South Sea published in 1741. Greene's map, while in the main a Vizcaino map, contains a few changes and many errors..."

Accompanied by a page and a half of ink ms. notes by John Maggs, noting in part that Green's "chart of 1753 possibly used when instructions for Wallis were prepared to search for the S. Continent betwen S. America & New Zealand,,," Also present is a letter from Sonia P. Anderson to John [Maggs], dated 2 March 1980, discussing the binding, "the coronet at the top is a marquis's and the cross at the bottom is the order of Christ. This was occasionally issued by the Holy See but normally it was a Portuguese order, and he is sure that the binding in this case must have been done for a Portuguese marquis..."

For the second and fourth issues of Green's map, see the map section of this catalogue.

Further Notes from the Files of Warren Heckrotte

Full title: Remarks in Support of the New Chart of North and South America; in Six Sheets. By J. Green, Esq;  London: Printed for Thomas Jefferys, Geographer to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, at the Corner of St. Martin's-Lane, near Charing Cross. 1753.

Provenance: Christies, 2/20/80, (bought by Maggs, my copy).

References: L-M 10. Wroth, Cartography of the Pacific. Stevens-Tree 4(a) for map. Glyndwr Williams, British Search for a Northwest Passage. On Braddock Mead see Crone, Imago Mundi, VI and VIII.