Map of Morris's Purchase or West Geneseo in the State of New York: Exhibiting Part of the Lakes Erie and Ontario, the Straights of Niagara, Chautauque Lake and All the Principal Waters ... Purchased by the Holland Land Company

New York, 1800. No Binding. Near Fine. 20 ½ x 26 ¼ inches.. A few light stains, else excellent condition. Rare. The first detailed map of New York State west of the Genesee River, in a very strong example. Ellicott produced the map on behalf of the Holland Land Company in order to sell their extensive land holdings in the region. Nestler hails the map as "probably the most important map of western NY when Buffalo was still known as New Amsterdam, and when land companies were luring settlers to this new frontier." It is superbly detailed, as Rumsey notes, in that it shows "every tributary of every tributary of every stream." The map is equally precise with regard to towns, townships, reservations, Indian villages and roads. The map displays three and a half million acres purchased in 1792 by the Holland Land Company, a Dutch consortium, from the American banker Robert Morris in a transaction known as "The Holland Purchase." Ellicott, operating as agent for the company, established its offices in Batavia, whose advantageous positioning at a crossroads on the Geneseo Road made it an ideal location for administering the sale of the lands surrounding it. Streeter 892; Rumsey 3712; Nestler, H., A Bibliography of New York State Communities, Counties, Towns, Villages p.109; Vail 1223.