VIRGINIA CARTOGRAPHY, 



A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION 

 BY P. LEE PHILLIPS. 



Maps may witliout exaggeration be called the light or eye of history." — Hulsius. 



The Map of 1585 and its Author, John With. 



No record of the past has suffered more from the wear and 

 tear of time than maps. When pubhshed separately they usuahy 

 find their way into the waste-basket, the old ones being sup- 

 planted by new editions; and, if inserted, to illustrate a volume 

 of text, they have been placed either in the front or back, an 

 easy prey to the destructive hands of careless readers. 



In this country the importance of maps has until recently been 

 little appreciated; few libraries can boast a good collection, and 

 the ones they have are so carelessly indexed that they are mostly 

 inaccessible. 



When a thought is given to the inestimable value of authentic 

 historic data, there is reason to regret and wonder why maps 

 should not receive the care in keeping with their importance. 



How many volumes of great rarity in our libraries would be 

 made doubly so, if the much too frequent " wanting map " could 

 be returned to its domicile! 



The literary hobbyist, or I should rather say the uneducated 

 vandal, who, anxious to collect all on a given subject, will slash 

 and destroy whatever is not in his line, is responsible for much 

 labor to the bibliographer, for in preserving the map alone he 

 has made it difificult to identify its past history. 



To remedy some of these evils, especially in connection with 

 Virginia — a portion of North America which in early days 

 embraced much of that which is now known as the United 

 States — is the object of the following monograph. 



