An extremely important map of Connecticut, by Thomas Kitchin, being the first printed map showing the whole state. (Barbara McCorkle, New England in Early Printed Maps, C758.1). In his authoritative work, Maps of Connecticut, scholar Edmund Thompson notes "though this is a small map, a mere compilation for a magazine supplement, it is the first printed map that is primarily of Connecticut now extant, and the data it shows of township lines is not to be found on any existing earlier sources." (emphasis in original). While the precise derivation of the map is a matter of debate among scholars, probably the strongest argument is that the English map maker Thomas Kitchin based the map on Thomas Jefferys four-sheet map, Map of the Most Inhabitated Part of New England, published a couple of years earlier in London in 1755. (Osher Map Library, The 'Percy Map', Cartobibliography, http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/percy/cartobibliography.html#edition1).

Whatever the precise derivation, the importance of the map as the first printed map of Connecticut, and the first to show certain township data, is unquestioned. This wonderful little map shows three counties: Fairfield, New Haven, and New London. It shows many towns, well delineated, along with major roads, rivers, and other topographical features. To the north is 'Massachusets Bay Province,' while to the south appears Long Island Sound and the eastern tip of Long Island. Towns in Rhode Island are also shown, but it is from its depiction of early Connecticut that the map draws its importance. Published in The London Magazine in April, 1758. Two folds, as issued. A crisp, bright, copper-engraved impression, and only slight age-toning to the paper. In very good condition.