Lot 92: Sauthier, Claude Joseph

A Chorographical Map of the Province of New-York in North America, Divided into Counties, Manors, Patents, and Townships ... Compiled ... by Order of His Excellency Major General William Tryon. London: William Faden, 1 January 1779 6 engraved sheets joined (73 1/2 x 56 1/2 in.; 1867 x 1435 mm). Contemporary coloring in outline, the location of West Point added in contemporary manuscript; expert repairs to a few tears. Floated on linen, glazed, and framed.

Phillips, A List of Maps of America, p. 505; Sellers & Van Ee, Maps & Charts of North America & the West Indies, 1750-1789, 1070; Short, Representing the Republic, Mapping the United States 1600-1900, pp. 68-69

Sauthier's monumental mapping of New York, one of the most detailed maps published during the American Revolution. An engineer by profession, Claude Joseph Sauthier accompanied Governor William Tryon to North Carolina in 1761, and thence to New York in 1771. Appointed surveyor of the Province of New York in 1773, he was commissioned to survey the territory from New York to Quebec. In compiling this map, Sauthier drew upon his detailed surveys as well as those of Bernard Ratzer. It focused on New York's boundaries, including an area disputed between New York and New Jersey, as well as New York's extensive claims on what is now Vermont. The map was first published in London by William Faden in 1776. Once hostilities between the colonists and Great Britain erupted, Sauthier was employed as a military surveyor. As the center of the colonies at the time of the American Revolution was New York, the Hudson River valley provided a nexus for the conflict and hosted many key battles throughout the eight years of war. It was crucial for the British to have accurate maps of the region. British command of the Hudson River could drive a wedge between the northern and southern colonies--an offensive that would not only determine the fate of New York but the outcome of the war altogether. Sauthier set about augmenting his map with details, particularly about the Catskills and upstate New York as well as in the more settled areas. The resulting map was three times the scale of the map of 1776 and was published again by Faden in 1779. Sauthier's Chorographical Map is the last major British map produced of the British province of New York.