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All La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt
Maps aren't. Although neither rare nor of great historical significance, a certain style United States regional map centered on the Carolinas captured my attention a few years ago as a result of observing the exceedingly popular misplaced attribution of most of these maps to François-Alexandre-Frédéric, duke de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt. Specifically, he has been given credit, at least on occasion if not routinely, for virtually every map similar to his Carte des Etats-Unis Provinces Méridionales. François-Alexandre-Frédéric, duke de La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt (1747-1827) was a French social reformer who established a model farm, two factories, and a trade school on his Liancourt estate.1 He was forced to flee to England during the French Revolution and subsequently (1794-1797) traveled in the United States, reaching as far south as Savannah. Upon his return to France in 1799, La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt's observations and experiences in the United States were published in Paris in 8 volumes under the title, Voyage dans les États-Unis d'Amérique, fait en 1795, 1796 et 1797.2 According to Sabin, the original edition contained 3 maps, as did an 1800 Paris edition. The first English translation of Voyage was also published in 1799, with the title translated and modified, Travels through The United States of North America, the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada, in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797. Sabin also indicates the presence of 3 maps in the London editions of 1799 and 1800, but not in the 1803 London edition. (Howes3 notes 1799 quarto and octavo London editions; all other editions are listed as octavo). Sabin also describes a German translation of the above work, published in 1799 in Hamburg, but no maps are indicated. Sabin does not list any other translations. Therefore, it should be safe to assume that a map of this style titled in Italian or Dutch is not from a book by La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, an assumption also supported by Howes and multiple internet searches using Google and various library and book search engines. So what exactly is the map style to which I refer, and from what works did the other maps originate? These maps cover the Carolinas and portions of the surrounding states. The distinguishing feature on each is an 11 mile wide strip of United States Territory between Tennessee and Georgia (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Although that strip of territory was originally claimed by both Georgia and South Carolina, Georgia relinquished her claim to it as part of the boundary negotiations between the two states at the Convention of Beaufort in April, 1787. South Carolina ceded that narrow band of territory to the United States in August, 1787, though the SC legislature had approved the cession a full month before the Convention of Beaufort!4 As stated above, La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt's map is titled Carte des Etats-Unis Provinces Méridionales and can be found in Volume V of the Paris edition of his Voyage. The English counterpart is titled Map of the Southern Provinces of the United States (Figure 2). Over the next decade, and as late as the mid-19th century, there were at least 5 additional maps of similar design. Including La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt's French & English editions, there were 3 with French titles, 1 English, 1 Dutch, and 2 Italian. Although all of these maps are similar, the Dutch map, Kaart van de Zuidlijke Provincien der Vereenigde Staaten, appears to have been derived directly from English map, while an Italian version, Carta delle provincie meridionali degli Stati-Uniti, most closely resembles the French edition of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt's map. Correct attribution is difficult since many of these maps have no such information on the map. Thus, one must find the map bound with its original work in order to confidently assign attribution. Further complicating matters is the use of one plate to print the map for two separate works (French translations of works by Marshall and Botta). The details of the various maps of this style are summarized in Table 1. This information has been collected more by chance than by legitimate research, the latter prevented by lack of time and skill on the part of this writer. For example, I have not reviewed the numerous Italian editions of Botta's Storia Della Guerra Dell' Independenza Degli Stati Uniti D'America. Since at least 2 different examples of this map exist in Italian editions of Botta's work, it is possible that others exist of which I am not yet aware. Likewise, I have not reviewed the London edition of Marshall's Life of Washington. Does it follow the Philadelphia edition which did not have a map of similar style to the one discussed here, or less likely, did it follow the French and Dutch editions of Life of Washington and add such a map? Therefore, this data is presented as a starting point, and is offered with a desire for curious readers to provide corrections and additions. It is also presented with hope that proper attribution will be given to these various maps in the future. Please use this link to contact WPCMS if you have corrections or additions.
Figure
2. Image courtesy of Old World Auctions,
Links to images of the above maps: English: Map of the Southern Provinces of the United States French: Carte des Etats-Unis Provinces Méridionales Carte des Provinces Meridionales des Etats-Unis Carte de la Partie Méridionale des Etats-Unis Italian: Carta delle provincie meridionali degli Stati-Uniti Le Provincie Meridionali degli Stati Uniti Dutch: Kaart van de Zuidlijke Provincien der Vereenigde Staaten (no link currently available) Copy/paste a map title below to search Google for that map. Please note that the initial search results are only for links on this web site. You can search the entire WWW by clicking [1]
"La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, François Alexandre Frédéric, duc
de." The [2]
Sabin, Joseph. A Dictionary of Books relating to [3]
Howes, Wright. U.S.IANA (1650-1950). [4]
Hemperley, Marion, and Jackson, Edwin. Other references for La
Rochefoucauld-Liancourt: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09005a.htm The
Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IX, [page 5]. Published 1910. Bibliography FERDINAND-DREYFUS,
Un philanthrope d'autrefois: La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, 1747-1827 (
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