Beautiful hand-colored 1757 Bellin map of Virginia, Chesapeake Bay and its surroundings, including Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  The map depicts from Burlington, New Jersey south to Cape Henry, and inland as far as the Appalachian Mountains, and shows towns, roads, villages, churches, meeting houses, rivers, mountains, inlets, islands and many other details.  In the title cartouche, Bellin notes that this map is derived from the "best English maps", to which Bellin would add the latest known changes.  Delaware is properly shown as still part of Pennsylvania.
 
Framed to museum-grade standards in a handmade 1/2 inch wide antiqued gold wood frame, beige linen conservation mat, and Tru Vue Optium Museum Acrylic® glazing.  Mat opening size 8 x 11 3/4 inches; overall size with frame: 11 3/4 x 15 1/2 inches.  As with all of our framed art, the frames and framing materials are new, and since framing is stored in a controlled environment away from light.  Center fold ass issued and there is one small spot of foxing to the top left of the cartouche; otherwise it is in excellent condition.  The rich linen matting particularly complements the map.

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703 - 1772), was one of the most important cartographers of the 18th century, with a career spanning some 50 years.  Compared to earlier 17th and 18th century cartographic work, Bellin's maps focus on function and accuracy tending.  Unlike many of his contemporaries, Bellin was always careful to cite his references.  Despite his success, he did not always enjoy his work, which is described as "long, unpleasant, and hard".  In addition to numerous maps and charts published during his lifetime, many of Bellin's maps published posthumously with updates.