The American Pilot: Containing the Navigation of the Sea-Coast of North-America by NORMAN, John and William - 1810

Boston: printed and sold by John Norman, 1810. Folio. (21 1/4 x 16 1/2 inches). Letterpress title, 4pp. letterpress sailing Directions, 11 engraved maps (2 single page, 4 double-page, 5 folding). Repairs to lower margins and upper corners of text leaves, some repairs to maps at folds. Contemporary blue paper covered boards, rebacked. Housed in a blue morocco backed box An American cartographic rarity: a complete copy of Norman's famed American Pilot, among the earliest of American atlases. The American Revolution brought to an end Britain's leading role in the mapping of America. The task now fell to the American publishing industry, still in its infancy, but with first-hand access to the new surveys that were documenting the rapid growth of the nation. In particular, there was a need for nautical charts for use by the expanding New England commercial fleets. The first American marine atlas, Mathew Clark's A Complete Set of Charts of the Coast of America , was published in Boston in 1790. Two of Clark's charts had been engraved by John Norman, who was inspired to launch his own enterprise. In January 1790, Norman published a notice in the Boston Gazette stating he was currently engraving charts of all the coast of America on a large scale. These were assembled and published as The American Pilot (Boston:1791). Norman's Pilot, the second American marine atlas, indeed the second American atlas of any kind, marked an advance over the earlier work of Mathew Clark. New editions of the Pilot appeared in 1792 and 1794, and after John Norman's death, his son, William, brought out editions in 1794, 1798, 1801, 1803, 1810 and 1816. Despite the seemingly large number of editions, The American Pilot is one of the rarest of all American atlases. Wheat and Brun (pps. 198-199) locate just ten complete copies for the first five editions: 1791 (Huntington, Harvard); 1792 (LC, Clements); 1794(1) (LC, JCB, Boston Public); 1794(2) (Yale); 1798 (LC, Boston Public). We find no other complete example of this 1810 issue. The maps comprise: 1) A Chart of Nantucket Shoals Surveyed by Capt. Paul Pinkham. 2 sheets joined, 21x32 3/4 inches. Wheat & Brun 221, state 3. 2) A New General Chart of the West Indies from the Latest Marine Journals and Surveys. 4 sheets joined, 28x40 1/2 inches. Wheat & Brun 683. 3) A Chart of South Carolina and Georgia. Single sheet, 20 3/4x16 1/2 inches. Wheat & Brun 607, state 3. 4) Chart of the Coast of America from Cape Hateras to Cape Roman from the Actual Surveys of Dl. Dunbibin Esqr. 2 sheets joined, 20 3/4x32 1/2 inches. Wheat & Brun 589, state 5. 5) A New and Accurate Chart of the Bay of Chesapeak Including Delaware Bay. 4 sheets joined, 42x34 1/2 inches. Wheat & Brun 310, state 2. 6) [Chart from New York to Timber Island Including Nantucket Shoals from the Latest Surveys.] 5 sheets joined, 54 1/2x39 1/2 inches overall. Wheat & Brun 157, state 3 (without title). 7) A Chart of the Coast of New England from the South Shoal to Cape Sable Including George's Bank from Holland's Actual Surveys. 4 sheets joined, 35x41 1/2 inches. Wheat & Brun 159, state 2. 8) A Chart of the Coast of America from Wood's Island to Good Harbor. 2 sheets joined, 21x32 1/2 inches. Wheat & Brun 166, state 2. 9) [Chart of the Coast of Nova Scotia from Cape Sable to Forked Harbor.] 2 sheets joined, 21x33 1/4 inches. 10) A Chart of the Streights of Bell Isle. Single sheet, 16 1/2x21 inches. Wheat & Brun 107, state 2. 11) A Chart of the Banks of and Part of the Coast of Newfoundland Including the Islands of Sable and Cape Breton from the Actual Surveys of Jos. F.W. Des Barres Esqr. 2 sheets joined, 21x33 inches. Phillips Atlases 4477 (1803 edition); Wroth, Some Contributions to Navigation , pp. 32-33.