1794 Stockdale Map of the Virgin Islands

A rare 1794 map of the West Indies by John Stockdale and Bryan Edwards. This is one of the few 18th century specific maps of the Virgin Islands. The map covers from the eastern shores of Porto Rico to Saint Martin and Anguilla, covering all of the Virgin Islands, including St. Thomas, St. Johns, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, an Anagada (Anugada). The eccentric billionaire Sir Richard Branson's, private haven, Necker Islands, appears and is labeled just north of Virgin Gorda. At the northwest tip of Anegada Island, Freebooter's Point is noted - this is the only place on the island free of barrier reefs and a famous rendezvous point for 18th century pirates and buccaneers.

Edward's History

Bryan Edwards was a gentlemen Planter of Jamaica active in the 18th century. Edwards was politically moderate but a staunch opponent to the anti-slavery movement - which of course, as a planter, would be a treat this financial interests. His work is full of contradiction, arguing in one sentence that he is 'no friend to slavery, in any shape, or under any modification', and the next expressing his bitter opposition to abolitionist arguments. Instead, Edwards argued, the way forward was reform, proposing a system wherein slavery might gradually be phased out by attaching slaves 'to the land, [to be] sold with along it.' His writing defends this perspective form a historical point of view, providing at the same time, a contemporaneous account of West Indian history from a plantation owner's elevated position.

Publication History and Census

This map was prepared by John Stockdale in 1794 for publication in Bryan Edwards 1794 The history, civil and commercial, of the British colonies in the West Indies, one of the classics of early West Indies literature. Examples of the work appear on the market from time to time, but the separate maps are rare.