“There is now extant a new map of Virginia and Maryland in four sheets, describing the Countries and the situation of the Plantations in the said countreys, with the Rivers, Creeks, Bayes, Roads and Harbors on the sea-coasts. Published by His Majesties especial License and are sold by John Seller, Hydrographer to the King at his shops at the Hermtage in Wapping and in Exchange Alley in Cornhill, London.”[1]
The map, consisting of four sections, when put together measures thirty-seven and one-quarter inches in width by thirty-one and one-quarter inches in height.
Apart from its geographic significance, Herrman’s map has true artistic merit; and is to be regarded as a masterpiece of seventeenth century design and engraving. Added to this, the quaint phrasing of the descriptive annotations gives it high rank in the literature of the chronicles of that adventurous century. In the southeast section is a highly ornate inscription plate, standing on a pedestal with an acanthus on either side. On the pedestal is written the legend of the map. Indian houses and plantations, for instance, he represents by a curious diagram, resembling a covered wagon without the wheels and body. On either side of the inscription plate are the figures of two children, a boy and a girl some ten or twelve years of age, probably intended to represent Indian children, but certainly not with Indian facial characteristics. The figure on the left, the boy, is carrying a bow and arrow. The figure of the maiden on the right with the long, flowing hair, holding in her left hand what looks much like a doll or a small animal; and her right hand pointing to the inscription:
- ↑ Phillips, p. 9. For many years it was believed that the copy of the map in the North Library of the British Museum was the only one extant. However, within the past decade another copy was discovered in the John Carter Brown Library, Providence, Rhode Island.
