Thomas Jefferys (c. 1710-1771)
The West Indies
Thomas Jefferys, Geographer, London: c. 1752
Hand colored engraving
19.75 x 18.5 inches, overall
18.5 x 17.75 inches, image
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The West Indies
Thomas Jefferys, c. 1752
Thomas Jefferys, c. 1752
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Map of the West Indies, "Exhibiting the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, & Danish Settlements, Collected from the Best Authorities." Provides detailed cartography of Florida, Georgia, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Cuba, a section of Latin America, and the entire Caribbean area. Settlements, rivers, and islands are labeled. Mountains appear as raised topography. The cartouche is done in a rococo Chinoiserie decorative style, the ornate gold frame adorned with foliage, a dove, and parasols.
Jefferys was one of the most prolific and important English map publishers of the 18th century. He produced a wide variety of prints as well as maps of locations around the world, but is especially noted for his many maps of North America. Between 1751 and 1768 he produced important maps on America, West America and the West Indies, at a time there was a great demand for maps of the colonies.
According to an article on the site of the Osher Map Library, "he was not a geographer per se. He was an engraver and publisher of maps which other people had compiled and drawn." He began his career in the map trade in the early 1730s, working as an engraver for a variety of London publishers, and eventually setting up his own shop. In 1746, he was appointed geographer to Frederick, the Prince of Wales, and in 1757 to his successor, George. When George IIIwas crowned in 1760, Jefferys became "geographer to the king." These titles did not mean he was a member of the court or government official, rather they indicated that he was considered a reputable and favored vendor and granted access to manuscripts and cartographic information held by the government.
In the early 1760s, he began a project of a series of English county maps based on new surveys, but ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy in 1766. He partnered with London publisher Robert Sayer, who reprinted many of Jefferys plates and continued to issue new editions after Jefferys' death in 1771, including the American Atlas and an atlas of the West Indies.
References:
Maxted, Ian. "The London book trades 1735-1775 a checklist of members in trade directories and in Musgrave's Obituary. " Exeter Working Papers in British Book Trade History 3. Devon Library and Information Services. April 2003. http://www.devon.gov.uk/library/locstudy/bookhist/lon1735.html#j (9 January 2004).
"The Percy Map...Thomas Jefferys (ca. 1710-1771) and the Mapping of North America." Osher Map Library, University of Southern Maine. http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/percy/jefferys.html (9 January 2004).
"Thomas Jefferys' West-India Atlas of 1775." The Geo Images Project, University of California, Berkeley. http://geoimages.berkeley.edu/JefferysAtlas/Jefferys_TOC.html (9 January 2004).