Plan of the city and fortress of Louisbourg

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Plan of the city and fortress of Louisbourg
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Item Information

Title:
Plan of the city and fortress of Louisbourg
Description:
The massive French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island controlled access to Canada and provided a base for raiding the northern British colonies. It was thus a great triumph for New England when in June 1745 it was besieged and captured by an expedition organized by Massachusetts Governor William Shirley. Portraitist Peter Pelham (1697-1751) engraved this exquisite plan drawn by fellow Bostonian Richard Gridley, who had commanded artillery at the siege. The print is an example of how Pelham, Thomas Johnston, James Turner and other Boston engravers supplemented their income by applying their talents to mapmaking.
Creator:
Gridley, Richard, approximately 1710-1796
Contributor:
Pelham, Peter, 1697-1751
Date:
[1746]
Format:
Maps/Atlases
Location:
Massachusetts Historical Society
Collection (local):
Massachusetts Historical Society Collection
Subjects:
Maps--1746
Louisbourg (N.S.)--History--Siege, 1745--Maps
Canada--History--To 1763 (New France)--Maps
Places:
Canada > Louisbourg
Extent:
1 map : 45 x 56 cm.
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
This work is licensed for use under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike License (CC BY-NC-SA).
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Publisher:
[Boston] : P. Pelham fecit 1746. Sold by J. Smibert in Queen Street Boston N.E.
Scale:
Scale ca. 1:3,428
Language:
English
Catalog Record:
http://balthazaar.masshist.org/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&BBID=106611
Notes (date):
This date is inferred.
Notes (exhibitions):
Exhibited: "Made in Boston" organized by the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library, 2013-2014.