George Louis Le Rouge (fl. 1740-1780), after work by Joshua Fry (1700-1754) and Peter Jefferson (1708 - 1757) Virginie, Maryland en 2 feuilles par Fry et Jefferson Traduit, Corrigé, augmenté a Paris Chez Le Rouge Ing'r Geographe du Roi Rue des Grands Augustins 1777, dated 1777, black and white line engraving with period outline color mounted on linen, 27 x 39-3/4 in. (plate), 30-7/8 x 41-7/8 in. (overall); unframed

Note: This copy of the map was published in William C. Wooldridge, Mapping Virginia, figure 110, pp. 114, 116-117.

As tension mounted between the British and their American colonies, French cartographers anticipated the need to have maps of the Americas. Imported maps were expensive, thus it was cost-effective to engrave copies locally. Le Rouge specialized in publishing French versions of English maps. This map, which has become rarer today than its English prototype, is Le Rouge’s faithful copy of Fry and Jefferson’s map of Virginia and Maryland.

States of this map are held in the Library of Congress and in the Huntingfield Rare Map Collection in the Maryland State Archives.

Literature: Cumming, William P., The Southeast in Early Maps, 1962, 219-21; Verner, Coolie, [unpublished] Notes On The Maps Of Virginia, # 623, 630, 644, 699, 723, 739, 742, 759, 793, and 904; Verner, Coolie, [unpublished] Notes On The Maps Of Virginia, # 623, 630, 644, 699, 723, 739, 742, 759, 793, and 904.

, Provenance: Collection of William C. Wooldridge; Collection of the Virginia Cartographical Society, LC; deaccessioned by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, Virginia with all proceeds to benefit the Collections Acquisitions Fund. attached to modern linen in order to secure thinned areas visible verso, pencilled inscription in lower right margin, stain and fold in upper left margin, light handling grime, minor toning