1731 Silfverling Map of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey

This is an extremely rare whimsical 1731 map focusing on the remnants of the ephemeral colony of New Sweden by Jonas Silferling and Tobias Biorck. New Sweden, which by 1731 had been assimilated into British New York, occupied parts of Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland between the Chesapeake Bay and New York. The present map centers on the Delaware River and Philadelphia, but extends northward as far as Albany and sough as far as Virginia, taking in portions of eastern Pennsylvania and Southern New York. As intended, it illustrates numerous early Swedish settlements, including Fort Christina (Wilmington, Delaware), on both sides of the Delaware River as well as various American Indian settlements and the english colonial cities of Philadelphia, Burlington, New York, and Albany. Curiously, much of the map is in english rather than Swedish, an indication of British social and political dominance in the region and a suggestion that Tobias Biorck, though a first generation son of Swedish immigrants, thought and lived primarily in english.

The cartouche, which is surmounted by the British royal armorial crest, is also suggestive of the 1655 assimilation of New Sweden into British America. Other decorative elements include beautifully engraved sailing ships, a sea monster, stylized American Indians, and various flora and fauna (most Turkeys) indigenous to the region. The map's is also particular charming because of some of its cruder features which include rough engraving, the idiosyncratic lettering, florid calligraphy, and the proliferation of mis-spellings such as 'Buks' County, 'Baltemore' and 'Khesapeak Bay.'

It is noteworthy that the present example is exceptional and superior in condition to most other known examples held in institutional collections. Unlike some examples of this map, this piece has no centerfold, suggesting that it was most likely side-bound. This is a rare one in a lifetime opportunity to own an extremely rare and significant map.