1782 Klockhoff Map of the United States - among the earliest to name the United States

This is the scarce first edition of Hendrik Klockhoff's 1782 map of United States. Issued at the tail end of the American Revolutionary War (1775 - 1883), this is one of the earliest obtainable maps to name the United States, in this case Etats-Unis. Derived from the work of the French cartographer Rigobert Bonne, the map covers the eastern seaboard of North America from northern Florida in the vicinity of St. Augustine to what is today northern Maine and extends westward past the Appalachian Mountains to include much of the Ohio River Valley. All thirteen of the original English colonies are identified along with their borders as understood by the French.

It is of note that the westward extant of the colonies is strongly delaminated by the Appalachian mountain range, reflecting an interesting French perspective. The French lost most of their American colonies during the French and Indian War. At this time Spain controlled all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi and Great Britain controlled all lands East of the Mississippi – except of the Thirteen Colonies which were then in rebellion. By strictly delimitating the Thirteen Colonies east of the Appalachians, there is some suggestion that France had hopes of reasserting its claims to Louisiana should the Americans win the war.

This map was drawn by Hendrik Klockhoff to illustrate Joseph Mandrillon's Le Spectateur Américain. This work was first published in 1782 and the map offered here appeared in only in this edition. Subsequent editions were issued in 1783, 1784 and 1785, these featured a similar but updated map with five paragraphs of annotative text in the Atlantic. The present example, the first edition of this map, is far rarer and, having been published during the Revolutionary War, more historically significant than the annotated later editions.