Dunbibin Daniel Draftsman (1 results)

Engraving, 32.625" x 21.375" plus margins. Longitudinal numeral "80" added in manuscript in lower margin. CONDITION: Good, some spotting, possibly from a ship captain's candle wax, moderate foxing, one sounding in the cluster of three in the lower-left corner nicked (all three of these are missing from all other examples we have examined and were obviously vulnerable to trimming), a few small paper pulp reinforcements at edges of verso. A rare, important, and legendary chart of the coast of North Carolina and a portion of South Carolina, taken from a survey by a North Carolina colonist. Thought to have been first published in 1761 (based on an advertisement), it later appeared in the first edition of John Norman's The American Pilot (1791), as well as subsequent editions. It is one of just two charts credited to American surveyors that Norman included in his famed nautical atlas. Daniel Dunbibin (d. circa 1760) was a ship captain, a landowner in New Hanover and a merchant in Newton (later Wilmington), North Carolina. The existing charts of the day being insufficient for safe navigation in the region, in the 1750s Dunbibin undertook an important survey of the Carolina coastline, which he intended to publish, as evidenced by the following appeal in The South Carolina Gazette, Sept. 23, 1756: Capt. Dunbiben [has] proceeded in his Survey of the Coasts on North and South Carolina, as far as Winyahbut the Subscriptions are not sufficient to enable him to [continue] Those therefore that would not see so necessary an Undertaking dropped, or imperfectly executed, may promote it, by calling at the printer's and subscribing to the Proposals in his hands. According to Guthorn, Dunbibin also "petitioned the North Carolina Assembly on May 19, 1757 for support for his survey of a 'great part of the Coast of North and South Carolina,' the expenses of which had exceeded the amount raised by subscription." Dunbibin's chart was apparently published, possibly following his death, as it was advertised in the Boston Gazette in 1761: The Navigation on the Coast of North and South Carolina being very dangerous on account of the many Bars, Shoals, Sandbanks, Rocks, etc. The late Daniel Dunbibin, Esq. of North Carolina, has, at very great Expence and Labour, draughted the Sea Coast of both the Provinces in a large whole Sheet Chart of 33 inches by 23; together with all the Rivers, Bays, Inlets, Islands, Brooks, Bars, Shoals, Rocks, Soundings, Currents, &c. with necessary Directions to render the Navigation both easy and safe, and are much esteemed by the most expert Pilots However, no copy of the 1761 chart has ever come to light. Wheat & Brun assume that the chart was indeed published, designating it state one. This, of course, also assumes that the plate survived, which Norman somehow obtained and used, making minor changes during the course of its publication in The American Pilot. While it is also possible that Norman simply re-engraved the chart from a then extant example, Guthorn notes that the "style of rendering and lettering is typical of the century preceding publication," perhaps strengthening the argument that the Normans printed from the original plate. The example of Dunbibin's chart offered here is Wheat & Brun's state III, with the addition of "New Inlet" just north of Cape Fear, but without the lettering in "DL. Dunbibin" and "Coast of America" fully shaded, as found in state IV. Wheat and Brun note that the third state appeared in The American Pilot in 1794 (two editions, one published by John Norman and another by William Norman). The third state is also known to have appeared in William Norman's edition of 1798. As observed by Guthorn, the "coastline charted exceeds the boundaries named in the title, actually extending from Charleston to north of Cape Hatteras." Two sets of rhumb lines appear on the chart, one radiating from a principal rose at the bottom center, surrounded by the words "Part of the Great Western Ocean," and the other centered on Cape Fear. Soundings are provided for a number of inlets and other critical areas. The chart's decorative elements include three ships, two of which appear to be coastwise vessels, and a whale. A scale of English leagues appears below the title. Following the Revolutionary War and the cessation in the publication of American maps by British publishers, American mapmakers began to fill the void. The first to address the pressing need for more charts of the U.S. coastline was mathematician and lecturer Bartholomew Burges of Boston, who began work in 1789 on a maritime atlas meant to consist of twelve charts, at least some of them engraved by John Norman. However, Burges was unable to obtain the endorsement of the Boston Marine Society and appears to have run into financial difficulties as well. Burges then turned for aid to Matthew Clark, who eventually terminated his business relationship with Burges and published his own Complete Set of Charts of the Coast of America in 1790, which contained eighteen charts, six more than originally proposed by Burges, most of them engraved by John Norman. Clark's charts were essentially derivative of the charts of Des Barres and other British chart-makers and were printed on a relatively small scale. John Norman evidently sensed an opportunity in the inadequacy of Clark's charts, as he soon began engraving charts of his own, which he would publish in The American Pilot. While most of Norman's charts were, like Clark's, based on British prototypes, many were on a larger scale, and more importantly, two were largely original works by American surveyors: the chart offered here and Paul Pinkham's A Chart of Nantucket Shoals. John Norman and subsequently William Norman (thought to be John's son) published eleven editions of The American Pilot from 1791 to 1816. An important and original chart of the coast of North and South Carolina by a colonial mapmaker. REFERENCES: Wheat & Brun 580; Guthorn, Peter J. United States Co.