Title: A Chart of North and South America, including the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with the nearest Coasts of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Cartographer: Braddock Mead (c.1685-1757)
Copper plate engraving with outline color, 1775.
London, Printed and Sold by R. Sayer and J. Bennett, Map, Chart, and Print Sellers. Engraved by Thomas Jefferys.
Three sheet map. Each sheet 18 x 53 1/2" (45.7 x 110.6 cm).

Plates 1, 2, and 3 (originally six sheets joined together to make these three plates) appeared in Thomas Jefferys' "The American Atlas: or A Geographical Description of the Whole Continent of America..." The map, when joined together, centers on Great Britain's American colonies and extends to include the unexplored northern reaches of Canada, Greenland and Iceland, northeastern Russia, western Europe and Africa, "New Zeeland," and the whole of South America. Scattered throughout all plates are charts denoting explorers, exploration dates, cartographers, and geographical coordinates. Also shown on the map are the routes of several explorers and short descriptions of their journeys. A fun map to study.

Braddock Mead, alias John Green, was an interesting and mysterious figure of 19th century London. He took on quite a few alias' during his lifetime, of which John Green is the best known. Green came into existence after Mead was sentenced to prison for attempting to defraud an Irish heiress in 1728. It was hardly his first or last run-in with the authorities.

Of Irish origin himself, Mead moved to London in 1717, where he began working with some of the foremost cartographers of the day, including Thomas Jefferys, who served as a geographer to the Prince of Wales, and Thomas Astley. His brilliant understanding of geography and cartography has made him one of the most important cartographers of the 18th century. Sadly, his turbulent lifestyle led to him committing suicide in 1757.

Condition: Good condition with original outline color, save for soft vertical crease in center sheet.