Arader Galleries

West Coast of North America from San Blas to San Francisco

$ 3,500.00
Inquiry
James Imray (1803-1870)
West Coast of North America from San Blas to San Francisco
London: 1883
Copper-plate engraving
2 Sheets: 50” x 39 6/8”, Framed: 48” x 58

IMRAY, James (1803–1870). West Coast of North America From San Blas to San Francisco. London: James Imray & Son, 89 Minories and Tower Hill, 1883 [inkstamped 1884].

2 sheets joined (50 x 39 6/8 inches). Fine chart of the west coast of North America extending as far north as Point Delgado, in Humboldt County, California, with 21 insets, laid down on blue paper for rolling (some short marginal tears).

Provenance:  with Old World Auctions, 5/9/07; from the important cartographical library of Warren Heckrotte, his sale, Rare Cartography, Exploration and Voyages, Part II, December 3, 2015, Lot 174

A detailed and large scale map of the west coast of North America from San Blas on the mainland of Mexico to just beyond San Francisco Bay, with 21 insets, including a large inset upper right of "San Francisco Bay" with its own inset of South Farallon, which was issued as a separate chart by Imray in their "Sailing Directions for the West Coast of North America" in 1867.

 

First published in this format in 1870, reprinted and updated throughout the following 20 years, remaining the standard commercial map for the region until nearly the 20th-century. With Imray's printed label on the verso offering the chart for 10 shillings, and numbering it Chart 154.

Other insets upper right are:

St. Barbara

Bodega Bay

Monterey

Ballena Bay

Mangles Road

Amortajad Bay

San diego Bay

Pichilingue

Salinas Bay

Pulpito Anchorage

Guaymas

Insets lower left are:

Tomales Bay

Port San Blas

St. Jose del Cabo Bay

San Lucas Bay

Magdalena Bay

San Pedro Anchorage

Mazatlan

"Imray's own particular interest was in chart compilation and he expanded his list beyond home trade waters with new charts of American and eastern seas. The publication of sailing directions, the manufacture and sale of nautical instruments (with which the firm had widened its services to navigators), and the nautical academy all flourished. In 1854, when his elder son, James Frederick Imray (1829–1891), became a partner in the book and instrument sides of the business, the firm became James Imray & Son.  

"By the 1860s Imray had become the leading British commercial chart publisher and was operating from three premises: 89 Minories housed chart publication, 102 Minories chart and books sales and the nautical academy, and 1 Postern Row the instrument shop. The majority of the fast-growing British merchant fleet used his charts because, although accurate Admiralty charts were now available, merchant shipmasters still preferred the charts of commercial publishers, named ‘blue backs’ from their distinctive blue paper backing, and particularly James Imray's blue backs. They were popular because they retained the traditional format of a small-scale general chart with many large-scale insets of harbours. They were designed to answer the needs of a particular voyage conveniently and used modern survey material, now available from Admiralty and foreign government charts. They were more expensive than Admiralty charts, but fewer of them were needed because for some voyages they provided all that was required on a single chart; they were also accompanied by complementary sailing directions.  

"As official surveys of Australia, New Zealand, the north-west coast of America, and the coast of Chile became available, Imray used them to compile charts designed for wool clippers, gold rush ships, and copper and nitrate clippers. As the influence of the East India Company waned and eastern seas opened to all British ships he published new charts of the Indian and Pacific oceans, followed by popular series of larger scale charts for the intricate passages through the eastern archipelago and on to China. Charts for particular trades were promoted with labels such as ‘Rice ports of India’ [as here] and ‘Cotton ports of Georgia’. Before he died his catalogue listed over 150 charts. He also led the defence of the private publishers against increasing Admiralty competition and in 1865 acquired the Mercantile Marine Magazine, the mouthpiece of the private publishers, edited by his navigation teacher W. H. Rosser.  "Imray's success was founded on shrewd business skills and an appreciation of his customers' needs. Although he expanded the firm's other activities his heart was in chart publishing and he always kept personal control of this. He was the leading private chart publisher of the day, standing head and shoulders above his competitors. His name was virtually synonymous with the term ‘blue back’: Thomas Gray, of the marine department of the Board of Trade, wrote in 1875 that ‘I only know of Imray's charts (i.e. the blue backs) as running the Admiralty charts close’ (Memorandum relating to the Supply and Correction of Charts, Board of Trade departmental paper, no. 79, 1882)." (Susanna Fisher for DNB).