Period

18th Century

Featured Items

Detail of a printed book shows a full-page illustration of a man smoking while seated and another man throwing water on him. Text in English on the opposite page.

Little truths better than great fables

William Darton
1794
Detail of a printed book shows a portrait frontispiece of Phillis Wheatley sitting at a table with a quill in her hand in the process of writing.

Poems on various subjects, religious and moral

Phillis Wheatley
1773
Detail of an engraved, hand colored full-page illustration shows a yam.

A collection of exotics, from the Island of Antigua

Lydia Byam
1797
Detail of a printed map shows Detroit with labels reading "Grande Saline," "Mosquitto Bay," and so on.

Pilote americain septentrional

Georges-Louis Le Rouge
1778-1789
Engraved fold-out map shows Greenland spelled "Grœnland" and other text in German.

Historie von Grönland

David Cranz
1765-1770
Detail of a printed book shows text in Mohawk and English.

A primer for the use of the Mohawk children . . .

Daniel Claus
1786
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 manuscript diary shows childlike drawings of a house, a person, and a ship.

Diary of Captain Samuel Tillinghast

Samuel Tillinghast
1761-1766

Related

Image of Peruvian Print Shop
Lecture

Historia del libro en lenguas originarias de América

colorful eighteenth-century map of the northern coast of Hispaniola
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Plano y Descripcion Del Puerto del Guarico questa en la Ysla Española…, 1736

August 30, 2020
colorful 18th century map of part of West Africa
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Carte du Cours des Fleuves du Sénégal et de Gambie Dédiée et Présentée à Monsieur le Duc de Lauzun…, 1779

July 31, 2020
Native Americans of present-day Mexico dance around two drummers

Picturing the Past: Indigenous Expressions in Colonial Mexico

Spring 2020
printed title page with text in Spanish
In House

Diario de las operaciones de la expedicion contra la Plaza de Panzacola...

February 24, 2020
engraved and hand-colored map of northeastern North America including present-day Maine to Virginia
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Recens Edita totius Novi Belgii, in America Septenrionali…, 1730

November 26, 2019
Printed fold-out map shows topography of Colombia in great detail. Includes decorative cartouche, illustration of two naked people sitting facing each other, and scales.

200 Years of Colombian Independence

image of an open book with a colorful image of insects on a tropical plant and printed text

By a Lady: Women and Natural History in the Americas, 1650-1830

September 2019

See Also

World

Cartography