Bickerstaff's Books, Maps

Franklin's Important Gulf Stream Chart

Chart of the Gulf Stream [appearing in] The American Museum: or Repository of Ancient and Modern Fugitive Pieces…, March, 1789

[Gulf Stream.] Franklin, Benjamin.

Philadelphia: Mathew Carey, 1789. 7 ¼ x 8 1/8.”. Folded as issued with misfolding along one fold line. Light to occasionally moderate soiling. Edge roughness, primarily at upper left edge. Item #3784

Appearing in the March, 1789 issue of the American Museum magazine, this engraving is the second American version of Franklin's famous chart of the Gulf Stream printed in America. Both American versions were preceded by English and French printings. The Chart of the Gulf Stream accompanies Franklin's "Remarks upon the navigation from Newfoundland to New York..." (p. 213 in the magazine). Franklin prepared the chart in 1768 while serving in London as a deputy postmaster general for mail service to and from the American colonies. It was Franklin's cousin Timothy Folger of Nantucket who provided him with a practical seafarer's knowledge of the Gulf Stream and its importance in trans-Atlantic crossings.

The previous American publication of the chart was in 1786 in The Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. This updated version provides a more accurate depiction of the North American coast. State boundary lines are partially indicated. One curious boundary delineation in the chart has a portion of the District of Maine extending over the northern boundaries of New Hampshire and part of Vermont.

References: Wheat & Brun, Maps & Charts Published in America before 1800: 723.

[ICN 7794.1].

Price: $1,600.00