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                   ** John Mitchell's Map: An Irony of Empire **
 
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education is
pleased to announce the acquisition of a fourth edition of John
Mitchell's map of North America annotated with treaty lines copied
from King George III's map in the British Library. We are particularly
glad that this significant historical document is now available for
the people of the State of Maine.
 
An extensive website focussing on the Mitchell Map has been prepared
by Prof. Matthew Edney, Osher Map Library Faculty Scholar. The website
contains:
 
    a) reproductions of the map;
 
    b) a history of the map's publication and changing political
    contexts, from Mitchell's initial plans in the late 1840s,
    through the first publication in 1755, to the fourth edition of
    1775;
 
    c) a clarification of the different (and conflicting)
    cartobibliographic descriptions of the map (London imprints,
    only);
 
    d) a study of how several different editions of Mitchell's map
    were used in the peace negotiations between Great Britain and the
    United States. This also serves as an introduction to the no less
    than *seven* "red line maps" identified in the nineteenth
    century;
 
    e) an annotated bibliography of the relevant literature.
 
URL: http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/mitchell
 
This magnificent map will be on display at the Osher Map Library until
January 4th, 1998. Please see the OML home page for details of opening
times and for travel directions.
 
This message has been cross-posted to maphist, maps-l, and histgeog.
Apologies for any duplication.
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Matthew Edney
 
Associate Professor                          (207) 780-4767
Geography/Anthropology                   fax (207) 780-5310
American & New England Studies          [log in to unmask]
 
     check it out: http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/oml/
                   http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/edney/
 
Osher Map Library & Smith Center for Cartographic Education
                University of Southern Maine
          314 Forest Ave., Portland, ME 04104-9301
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