In 1778 George Louis Le Rouge published an atlas of North America entitled ‘Atlas Ameriquain Septentrional’ to rival that of Thomas Jefferys in London. It included numerous large scale maps including this one derived from Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson magnificent map in four sheets first published c.1753. Although Le Rouge reduced the map from four sheets to two he managed to retain the original scale and ‘faithfully copied the updated geography’ (Pritchard & Taliaferro).

Colonel Joshua Fry (c.1700-54) was an American surveyor, mathematician and Commander of a Virginia Regiment. Peter Jefferson (d.1757) was a surveyor, planter and famously father of President Thomas Jefferson. Together they undertook several surveying missions for this map. With the outbreak of the French and Indian War there was a pressing need for accurate large-scale mapping of the American colonies. The Board of Trade in London issued instructions to the Virginia Governor to undertake the work and he turned to Fry and Jefferson. The finished map which is extremely rare in the early states was the first to map in detail the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountain ranges. The map is more usually seen in its later state and inclusion in Thomas Jefferys ‘American Atlas’ first published in 1775. An uncommon map. Refer Cumming SE (1998) no. 281; Malone (1966) p. 18; Morrison (1983) fig. 42; refer Pritchard & Taliaferro (2002) no. 30; Shirley (2004) T.Ler 3a no. 18; Verner (1967) Imago Mundi 21 pp. 70-94; Wooldridge (2012) no. 110.