CARTE DE LA BAYE ET RIVIERE DE DELAWARE contenant une éxacte et entiére description des rivages, criques, havres, sondes, bas-sonds, sables et les gissements des marques les plus considérables du pays, depuis les caps James et May jusqu'à Philadelphie, suivant la carte originale..

NP [Paris?]: np [Depot de la Marine; Petit, Sculp.], 1778. Map. Single sheet, 23 x 16 5/8 in., trimmed to the neat line at right margin. Two closed tears extending into the top and bottom corners of the right side of the map, slightly affecting a letter or two of the title; the whole archivally backed with Japanese paper. A nice, clean example. "Rédigée d'après un plan anglois au Dépot général des cartes, plans et journaux de la marine par ordre de M. de Sartine, conseiller d'état, ministre et secrétaire d'etat au Département de la Marine." The map also contains (truncated) textual instructions for the navigation of the Delaware River and Bay, a crucial waterway during the American Revolution. Fisher's chart was originally published in 1756 to aid in the navigation of a river known for its difficult shoals, and included sounding and suggested routes. The map was initially suppressed by the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania for fear it gave away too much information to the opposition during the French and Indian Wars. Eventually published in ten editions between 1756 and 1800, in Philadelphia, London, and Paris, this copy was done by order of M. de Sartine, Secretary of the Navy under Louis XVI at the outset of French involvement in the American Revolution. It prints, along the right side, a French translation of Capt. Campbell's "Directions for Navigating up the Delaware Bay," published in London in 1776. The information it provided proved useful to all the major combatants during the Revolutionary War. [see Lawrence C. Wroth's essay "Joshua Fisher's Chart of Delaware Bay and River," Pennsylvania Mag. of Hist. & Biog., vol. 74, no.1, pp.90-109]. (Inventory #: 61968)