A decorative emblem framing the title of a map, many times elaborately drawn and rich in meaning. (Image: Cartouche from 1755 Mitchell Map, one of the most important maps in American history.)
Beavers Busy at Work
Herman Moll's 1715 Map of North America, termed Beaver Map, for its fascinating inset of Niagara Falls and beavers building a dam with a caption describing the activities of the beavers below.
Swimming Pools
From Ogilby/Moxon 1672 Lord Proprietors Map, a cartouche on early swimming pool recreation with entirely inaccurate pictures of Indians and settlers.
Indigo Production
From one of the great maps of the 18th century, William Gerard De Brahm's 1757 A Map of South Carolina and a Part of Georgia, the highly detailed cartouche shows indigo being made.
Colonial Setting with Barn Tobacco House
In Homann's 1714 Map of present day Long Island to South Carolina, this highly ornamented and detailed Rococo cartouche with tobacco houses and drying tobacco hanging in clusters.
Natural Landscapes
Robert de Vaugondy's 1755 map, a near duplicate of the more famous Mitchell Map (1755, also in our collection), features a vibrant and colorful cartouche of greenery and shrubs.
(mis)Conceptions
Map from Ortelius's Atlas
One of the half dozen most important "mother" maps of the southeast, cosmographer to King Philip II of Spain Geronimo de Chaves' 1584 map of "La Florida" features an erroneous mountain range stretching westward.
First Lord Proprietors Map
Many misconceptions about the Carolinas, a savannah, great lake, or the "Aronesa desert" made first by explorer John Lederer lived on in many subsequent maps, like royal cosmographer John Ogilby's and engraver James Moxon's 1672 Map of Carolina.
John Senex 1719
A map with a long history of influences, it features amountain range extending from Michigan down to Florida, and John Lederer's misconceptions about Carolina like the Aronesa Desert also carry onto it.
Fifty Years Misleading Mariners
John Thornton and William Fisher's 1698 "A New Map of Carolina" published in The English Pilot: Fourth Book had dangerously misleading features near the Outer Banks.
Bellin 1764 Map of Louisiana and Florida
This map comes at the end of a long series of misconceptions about the Florida coastline. An accurate picture of the Florida peninsula wouldn't come until the end of the 18th century.
Cartographer (map in collection), Blaeu came from a family of cartographers, instrument makers, publishers and book sellers. He is pictured above at the age of 65. (p. 60-1).
Son of a tailor, John Speed devoted himself to history and maps after patronage from Fulke Greenville and compiled an atlas in 1611 calledThe Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain.(Image: "St Giles, Cripplegate, London EC2" by John Salmon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
French cartographer Delisle collaborated with his dad, a historian and geographer, on maps and secretly believed in a "Western sea" on the Pacific Coast, which he only published privately.
Important British cartographer, Moll believed in British expansion around the world and especially into South Asia. Many of his maps were intended for British elite with political and economic interests in Asia.
