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HOLME, Thomas. A Mapp of ye Improved part of Pensi

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London: "Sold by Geo: Willdey at the Great Toy, Spectacle, China-ware, and Print Shop at the coprner of Ludgate Street, near St. Paul's," after 1687 [c. 1715]. Double-page map engraved by John Harris, hand-colored (400 x 540 mm). Inset of "The City of Philadelphia two Miles in Length and one in Breadth." 112 numbered and lettered references in Chester County, 29 numbered references in Bucks County, 36 numbered and lettered references in Philadelphia County, and hundreds of land holders identified on the map itself. Nicely framed. Condition: trimmed to the neat line and mounted at an early date, very minor abrasion along the fold on the compass rose. Provenance: Martin P. Snyder. Exhibited: "Wordly Goods," Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999-2000. In 1684, William Penn's surveyor Thomas Holme began surveying the plots owned by first purchasers in the counties surrounding Philadelphia. "In a few years he completed a map of [Pennsylvania's] eastern portion. This was published first as a very large and later as a small engraving. In both, the grid plan of the city was carefully inserted in recognition of the fact that Philadelphia was the focal point and that the city plan had strong sales value in all promotion of the province generally" (Snyder). This is the smaller version of Holme's map (the larger version being on seven sheets and prohibitively rare). Although reduced in size, engraver John Harris maintained the map's extraordinary detail. Virtually every first purchaser is identified, either on the map itself or via the numbered and lettered references. This is the second state of the map, first issued by P. Lea between 1687 and 1699. On this state, Lea's imprint has erased from the plate and Willdey's imprint added at the lower left on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River. The dating to c. 1715 is based on Willdey's address. All early issues of Holme's map are rare. Only four copies of both the first and second issues combined have appeared at auction in the last quarter century (unnamed consignor, Swann Galleries, 30 March 2006; George M. Pflaumer, Sotheby's New York, 3 June 1997; Howard E. Welsh, Sotheby's New York, 13 June 1991; unnamed consignor, Sotheby's New York, 22 May 1990). Of those, only the copy at Swann Galleries was a first issue, the remaining having the Willdey imprint. Burden 669; Corcoran, Thomas Holme, 1624-1695 (Philadelphia: 1992); Hough, "Captain Thomas Holme" in PMHB vol. 19; Klinefelter, "Surveyor General Thomas Holme's 'Map of the Improved Part of the Province of Pennsilvania'" in Winterthur Portfolio, vol. 6; Phillips, p. 670; Snyder, COI 7A; Schwartz & Ehrenberg 121 (first issue); Stevens & Tree 68b; Streeter Sale 945 (first issue).

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