Genre

Map

Featured Items

Detail of hand colored, manuscript map shows rivers (outlined in green) and labels written in red ink. Near the large, red letters reading "Mor" there is a plantation notable for being labeled "Jews." Other plantations are labeled with surnames.

A discription of the coleny of Surranam in Guiana drawne in the year 1667

1667
Detail of a hand colored manuscript map shows villages labeled in Spanish such as "Pueblo de S. Pablo" and "Pueblo de Huitziltzinco." Churches, trees, and bodies of water are also included in the map.

El presente mapa demuestra la cituacion, plano, y repartimiento, que en la actualidad tienen los arroyos, que bajan de Sierra Nevada…

Felipe de Zúñiga y Ontiveros
1770
Detail of a pink, orange, and blue colored, engraved map shows islands of Philippines such as "Masbate" and "Ticao." Other details include a line partially labelled "de la Nao para la Nueva Espanna."

Carte Hydrographique & Chorographique des Isles Philippines…

Pedro Murillo Velarde
1760
Detail of a hand colored printed map shows text in French reading "Terre-Neuve," latitude and longitude lines, and labels over other geographical areas.

Carte reduite des bancs et de l'Ile de Terre-Neuve avec les cotes du Golf de St. Laurent et de l'Acadie

[Depot de la Marine]
1784
Detail of a colored, engraved map shows pink, orange, and yellow used to outline areas and labels in English such as "Penobscots."

Map of the British and French Dominions…,

John Mitchell
1755
Detail of an engraved, hand colored map shows naval warfare, labels over "York River" and "York Town," and red and yellow details.

To his Excellency Gen Washington, Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States of America. This Plan of the investment of York and Gloucester has been surveyed…

Sebastian Blauman
1782
Detail of a manuscript map shows coastal profiles and women or mermaids holding the flags of Ireland, Scotland, and England.

Mountserrat island, ms. 1673

William Blathwayt
1673
Detail of an engraved map shows the direction of flow of the "Golfe de Floride." Other text in French labels nearby landmarks such as "Isles de Bahama.'

The Gulf Stream flowing northwards…

Benjamin Franklin
1778

Related

Image of Guaxtepec (relaciones geograficas)
Digital Item-of-the-Month

New Digital Item-of-the-Month series begins this week

October 5
colorful eighteenth-century map of the northern coast of Hispaniola
Map of the Month

Plano y Descripcion Del Puerto del Guarico questa en la Ysla Española…, 1736

August 30
engraved map of the island of Hispaniola with present-day Haiti and Santo Domingo, including sea monsters, ships, and a compass
Map of the Month

L'isole piu famose del mondo…, 1572

February 25
Plan of the city of Cartagena in present-day Colombia with decorative cartouche and other decorative elements
Map of the Month

Civitas Carthagena in Indiae occidentalis continente sita…, 1588

January 27
engraved and hand-colored map of northeastern North America including present-day Maine to Virginia
Map of the Month

Recens Edita totius Novi Belgii, in America Septenrionali…, 1730

November 26
detail of cartouche of a map of northeastern North America
Lecture

Frames that Speak: An Introduction to Cartographic Cartouches

Detail from: Figure des Brisilians. [Rouen, 1551]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Fellow's Talk

Un certain simulacre de la verité: Performances and Performative Readings in the Figure des Brisilians (1551)

Image from: Tovar Codex-El modo de baylar de los Mexicanos. 17a y última del primer tratado. [Juan de Tovar 1585]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Workshop

Visual Thinking in the Archive: Mesoamerican Codices at the JCB

See Also

History of the Book

Pedagogical Materials