1840 Blunt Nautical Chart or Map of New England and Nova Scotia

Edmund March Blunt (June 20, 1770 - 1862) was an American navigator, bookseller, chartmaker, and cartographer based in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Blunt was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1770. In 1796, along with the nominal assistance of prominent navigator Captain Lawrence Furlong, Blunt published The American Coast Pilot, one of the most important published works on American navigation. Although much of the work was plagiarized from British publications, the Coast Pilot was an immediate popular success. In response to the popularity of his work, Blunt published 21 subsequent editions, each with important updates and revisions. The first edition to contain map plates was printed in 1804. Following a fire that destroyed his offices at The Sign of the Bible in 1811, Blunt moved his business to New York and opened a new shop, The Sign of the Quadrant. His sons Edmund Jr. (1799 - 1866) and George William (1802 - 1878), joined the firm in 1824 and eventually took over the family business, renaming the firm 'E. and G. W. Blunt'. They both produced their own nautical books, charts, and instruments, as well as republished their father’s work. In 1830, Edmund accepted a position under Ferdinand Hassler at the United States Office of the Coast Survey. Much of Blunt's original work eventually found its way into U.S. Coast Survey Publications. George closed the firm in 1872 and sold the plates and chart copyrights to the U.S. Coast Survey and the U.S. Navy Hydrographic Office. Due to the quality and detail of Blunt's work, revised editions of his most important charts were republished well into the 1880s. More by this mapmaker...

Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres (November 22, 1721 - October 24. 1824) was born in Switzerland in 1721. He is known to have attended the University of Basel where he tutored under the great mathematician Daniel Bernoulli. Following his studies in Basel, Des Barres immigrated to Great Britain where he continued his education at the Royal Military College of Woolwich. Sometime in the 1850s Des Barres joined the American Regiment of the Royal Army in the capacity of Military Engineer. He was assigned to the team surveying the St. Lawrence River where he worked with the legendary cartographer Samuel Holland as well as the young James Cook. Afterwards Des Barres went on to survey and map the Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland. Des Barres work is known for its stunning combination of accuracy and aesthetic appeal. Augustyn, in Manhattan in Maps writes that with Des Barres, "nautical charting took an unprecedented leap toward greater precision and graphic sophistication". Upon his return to England in 1774, Des Barres was assigned to compile all of the most current cartographic information on the New World into the seminal Atlantic Neptune, which has been described as the "most splendid collection of charts, plates and views ever published" (National Maritime Museum Catalogue). Des Barres would eventually return to Canada where he lived another forty years as a wealthy land owner and active political figure. He died at the ripe old age of 103, one of the few centenarians of the early 19th century. Learn More...

James Duncan Graham (April 4, 1799 - December 28, 1865) was an American topographical engineer active with the Army Corps of Engineers in the first half of the 19th century. Graham was born in Prince William County, Virginia to a family of Scottish descent. He studied at West Point and entered the army upon graduating in 1817 as a Third Lieutenant of the Corps of Artillery. He is reported to have embodied the 'highest accomplishments of the polished gentleman and distinguished scholar.' During his long career with the Topographical Engineers, Graham participated in many of the most important events of the 19th century, ranging from the Mexican American War (1846 - 1848) and the Civil War (1861 - 1865), to surveying the Texas Boundary, producing the first scientifically accurate survey of Cape Cod, mapping the Great Lakes, and the survey of the Mason Dixon Line. Graham died in his home in Boston of sudden heart failure at 66 years of age. Learn More...