A Chart of the Straits of Magellan. Inlarged from the chart published at Madrid in 1769. by Don Juan de la Cruz Cano y Olmedilla ... and improved from the observations and surveys of Captns. Byron, Wallis, and Cartaret compared with those of Monsr. de Bougainville by JEFFERYS, Thomas (d.1771) - Juan de la CRUZ CANO y Olmedilla and others - 1775

London: R. Sayer & J. Bennett, 1775. Engraving, with original hand-colour in outline, with inset 'A Chart of the Magellania with Falkland Islands'. Numerous expert small repairs. Some restoration to centerfold, losses to publication line, soiling at base around centerfold and margins. A splendid chart of the diabolical Straits of Magellan from the American Atlas As a collection, the American Atlas stands as the most comprehensive, detailed and accurate survey of the Americas at the beginning of the Revolution. Jefferys was the leading English cartographer of the 18th century. From about 1750, he published a series of maps of the English American colonies, that were among the most significant produced in the period. As Geographer to the Prince of Wales, and after 1761, Geographer to the King, Jefferys was well placed to have access to the best surveys conducted in America, and many of his maps held the status of "official work". Jefferys died on 20th November 1771, and in 1775, his sucessors, Robert Sayer and John Bennett, gathered the separately-issued maps together (including the present example) and republished them in book form as The American Atlas . This superb chart of the turbulent meeting place of Atlantic and Pacific depicts the fascinating labyrinth that Magellan and his crew famously threaded their way through and where many a ship has been lost. It was and remains even now a most treacherous passage, the sailor's dread. Cf. Howes J-81; cf. Phillips Atlases 1165 and 1166; cf. Sabin 35953; cf. Streeter Sale I, 72 (1775 edition); cf. Walter Ristow (editor) Thomas Jefferys The American Atlas London 1776, facsimile edition, Amsterdam 1974.