Beschreibung:

MASON, Charles (1728-1786) and Jeremiah DIXON (d.1777), surveyors . Manuscript map, entitled "A Plan of the West Line or Parallel of Latitude which is the Boundary between the Provinces of Maryland and Pensylvania," neatly signed by the surveyors "Cha: Mason" and "Jere: Dixon" in ink below the decorative cartouche, [drawn in Philadelphia, 26 December 1767-29 February 1768]. Manuscript map on a single long sheet (9¼ to 10¾ x 75¾ in.), consisting of six sections of heavy laid paper neatly joined together and backed with linen (evidently at an early date), the map finely drawn with pen and brush in black ink over light pencil, with a ink ruled double frame; large legends "THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA" and "THE PROVINCE OF MARYLAND" in bold letters (½ in. in height) above and below the section of terrain depicted on either side of the boundary line; numerous smaller legends on the map denoting rivers (including the Susquehana, Big Elk Creek, Potomac, Antietam Creek, Monongahela, etc.), forests, mountain ranges of the Allegheny region, Indian trails (one labeled "Indian War Path"), roads (including "G: Braddock's Road"), settlements and homesteads shown in careful detail; natural features of the terrain including forests, mountain ranges, swamps, clearings and creeks carefully rendered by the artist. The easternmost section features a compass rose, a scale of miles and a very fine ornamental scrollwork cartouche, embellished with large branching trees rendered in stippled brushwork, with title neatly lettered in different letter styles. CONDITION: Two small vertical cracks where once folded (at milestone 55 and 160); traces of worming slightly affecting small area at foot of cartouche, a tiny area between milestones 140 and 145 and blank areas in western portion; scattered light surface abrasion and minor soiling, slight show-through of the adhesive used in mounting to linen, but OTHERWISE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION, neatly matted, in a fine gilt-wood frame. THE ORIGINAL 1768 MASON-DIXON MANUSCRIPT SURVEY, ESTABLISHING A BOUNDARY WHICH BECAME THE HISTORIC MASON-DIXON LINE: "A SYMBOL DIFFERENTIATING TWO POLITICAL DIVISIONS, TWO DEFINITE STATES OF MIND WHICH HAVE EXISTED IN THE NATION FROM THE BEGINNING OF ITS SETTLEMENT" (WROTH) The original Mason-Dixon survey map of the Maryland Pennsylvania boundary was created as part of the settlement of one of the longest-running boundary disputes in American history, between William Penn (whose Charter was granted in 1681) and Charles Calvert Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland. Despite efforts of the Privy Council to effect a resolution, their dispute over the exact boundaries of their respective colonial lands simmered for nearly a century, with conferences, lawsuits, temporary agreements and armed standoffs. Finally, a settlement stipulating a complete survey of the boundary was decreed in 1750 by the Lord Chancellor of the Court of Chancery. After further delays two young English surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, sailed for America, with their surveying instruments, in September 1763. Their contract with the Penn family and Lord Baltimore, signed on 4 August 1763, rather optimistically called for them to complete the entire survey in one month! First, Mason and Dixon surveyed the border between the Three Lower Counties (present Delaware) and Maryland, then undertook the far more demanding task of surveying the extensive west line, which ran over the rugged Allegheny Mountains and through miles of heavily forested, roadless wilderness terrain, the traversing of which necessitated Indian guides and teams of axmen to laboriously clear sightlines. The boundaries established by their survey were formally ratified by the Commissioners on 9 November 1768, and the two surveyors returned to England. THE HISTORICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE MASON-DIXON LINE The line surveyed by Mason and Dixon, carefully marked at intervals by granite stone markers, came to signify much more than a simple