North America; Antique Map by Pinkerton, 1818

An museum-grade, archival reproduction of an extremely unusual mapping of North America prepared for the 1818 American edition of Pinkerton's Atlas. Although the basic engraving remains identical to Pinkerton's Atlas of 1813, published in London, the coloration has been updated to reflect American sensibilities. Cartographically, Pinkerton's map presents a curious amalgam of Soulard, Escalante, Pike and Lewis and Clark. Wheat suggests that Pinkerton struggled to reconcile conflicting reports from Soulard and Pike, particularly in the Missouri Basin. He introduces the curious convention of showing a dashed line noting the route of the Missouri River according to former conjectures. Further to the south he notes the path of the Missouri according to M. Lewis. The great basin is particularly vague, with the Great Salt Lake, or rather an embryonic version of it, appearing much further west than is common. It also shows the apocryphal Buenaventura river flowing into the lake from the mountains in the northeast. Pikes Peak appears, but is not named. Florida is attached to the Spanish dominions. We are not certain to whom to ascribe the variations of coloring apparent on this map as we have not been able to compare it with a similar map from the rare 1818 edition, which has proven extremely elusive. In the far north hopeful traces of the Northwest Passage remain, with the seas identified by Mackenzie and Hearne - likely the Dolphin and Union Strait - duly noted. Greenland is also, in a curiously advanced step forward , detached from the mainland.