Lotter, Matthaüs Albrecht | Perhaps the earliest map to recognize the United States as a separate nation

Lotter, Matthaüs Albrecht

Carte de la Nouvelle Republique de l'Amerique ou les treize Provinces Unies contenant... Augsburg: les freres Lotter, [1777]

Engraved map (sheet: 503 x 587 mm). Hand colored on "4MC" watermarked paper; old central fold, several minor pale stains mostly along the left edge, a small area of abrasion to the paper at lower left not affecting the printing, faint creases at the corners, some expertly closed short tears along the edges. Archivally matted and framed. (Offered with:) Sauthier, C. J. A Map of the Provinces of New York and New New-Jersey... Augsburg: Matthew Albert Lotter, 1777. Engraved map, hand colored, printed on "4MC" watermarked paper, the lower sheet of the two-sheet map only (391 x 572 mm); old central fold, lightly spotted and toned, creasing. (With:) Lotter, Matthew Albert. The Provinces of New York and New Jersey... Augsburg: Matthew Albert Lotter, 1777. Hand colored engraved map printed on "4MC" watermarked paper (sheet: 391 x 572 mm). Light toning, a few minor spots, some creasing along the right edge, a tiny nick in the left margin, only the lower of two sheets.

An exceedingly rare, separately issued Revolutionary War era map of the United States, here referred to as the "La Nouvelle Republique de l'Amerique ou les Treize Provinces Unies..."

The Lotter brothers' map is undated, but material evidence indicates that it was likely printed in 1777. If so, then this would be the earliest printed map to depict the United States as an independent nation, a full year prior to Jean-Baptiste Eliot's map, and six years prior to Eliot's issuing his later map with complete coverage of the country (see lot 359).

In a 10 May 1990 memo by John Wolter, Chief of the Geography and Map Division at the Library Congress, written while requesting the acquisition of their copy from Richard B. Arkway, Wolter did not determine a date for map, suggesting that it may have been produced between 1778 and 1783. However, he did feel that "this Lotter map is one of the of earliest to acknowledge the independence of the United States. It may also be the first German produced map to recognize American Independence." On the other hand, the University of Georgia Map was dated "1776?" in their catalog. Below, we will provide the reasoning and evidence for why, we believe, this map was produced in 1777.

Matthaüs Albrecht and George Frederic Lotter took over their father's substantial map publishing firm shortly after their father's death on 14 July 1777, styling themselves as the Lotter brothers. The Lotter firm, based in Augsburg, was one of the most prominent and successful German map publishing houses of the eighteenth century. They often produced maps intended for export showing far-away locales, printed in a variety of languages, including French, English, and Latin. They also printed maps that reflected recent current events, such as a 1754 map of Pennsylvania published at the height of German emigration to the region, or a plan of Philadelphia with a view of Independence Hall in 1777, issued months after the Declaration of Independence had been signed there.

This map was evidently destined for an international audience, both French and American. The place names are written in English but the cartouche is in French. The French, who were supportive of the Revolution, though not yet officially allied with it, would have appreciated the fact that this map makes no mention of Great Britain or the Thirteen Colonies, but instead declares America's independence as a new republic. The inclusion of a European soldier and a Native American may also have appealed to their sensibilities, as well as the fact that the Mississippi River is shown as a boundary for America's westward expansion, given the Spanish dominions there and French territorial ambitions in the region.

Notably, the Lotters also published an atlas map titled Carte Nouvelle de L'Amerique Angloise contenant tout ce que les Anglois possedent sur le Continent de L'Amerique Septentrionale... les treize Provinces unies.... It uses the same terminology in the cartouche, referring to the states as "United Provinces," and the list of the states is identical. That map, though also undated, appears in a copy of Lotter's Atlas Geographique... dated 1778 held at the Library of Congress. The repetition in the two map's cartouches suggests that they were produced at around the same time, before 1778. After 1778, the name United States became more widely adopted and appears on other maps of America (cf. J.B. Eliot's 1778 map, where Eliot refers to himself an "Engineer of the United States").

The present map shows the eastern seaboard from Florida to Nova Scotia, extending west to the area just past the Mississippi. Its cartography closely copies Pownall's 1777 four-sheet "A New and Correct map of North America..." There were two issues of Pownall's map, the first dated 10 January and the second 15 February 1777. The reissue moves New York's border from Lake Champlain to the Connecticut River, exactly as appears here—as such, Lotter based his map on this second issue, so it must have been produced after February 1777.

The most compelling piece of evidence for dating this map, however, is the paper's "4MC" watermark. This watermark is only found on Lotter maps dating from between 1776 and 1777. For example, it can be found on the Lotter Map of the Provinces of New-York and New-Jersey... dated 1777, also offered in this lot. The watermark has also been found on an L'Amerique Angloise map held at the Osher Map Library, as well as on three other Lotter maps dated 1776–77. The "4MC" watermark appears on four of the five institutionally held examples of Nouvelle Republique map (the fifth being unwatermarked). The paper stock appears to have been depleted before 1778, when Lotter maps begin to appear on paper watermarked "EK" (for Elias Kutter) as appears in the Library of Congress's 1778 Atlas Geographique... In fact, no "4MC" watermarks have been found on post-1777 Lotter maps so far.

Based on the above information, Lotter's Carte de la Nouvelle Republique de l'Amerique ou les treize Provinces... was likely printed sometime between February 1777 and, perhaps, early 1778. If so, it would be the earliest printed map known to depict the United States as an independent nation and to portray the potential extent of the the newly formed republic. This long overlooked map could claim priority as being the first printed map to acknowledge American independence.

We locate just 8 copies of the map, including the present example. There are five institutional collections with copies of the map (Wisconsin Historical Society; University of Bern; University of Georgia Hargett Library; Library of Congress; John Carter Brown Library). The remaining three were offered in the trade or at auction (Art Source International, 1993; Reiss Sohn, November, 2015, purchased by Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps; Lee Jackson, September, 2012).

REFERENCES

The research behind this discovery was largely conducted by the map's owner, Dave Morgan, whose detailed, illustrated essay on this map is included in the lot and available on request

PROVENANCE

Dave Morgan (Purchased from Antique Atlas/John Faupel-Gary Hudson in December 2002)