Rare blueback chart of the Caribbean, and the Gulf of Mexico.

The chart was first published by Norie's predecessor William Heather in 1809, and engraved by John Stephenson, whose name appears below the title. In the present edition Norie - as well as updating the cartography - has amended the title, replacing Heather's name with his own, adding the line 'from the Virgin Islands to the Gulfs of Florida & Mexico', and changing the imprint and date of publication - from 1809 to 1816. The omission of Heather's name in the title and imprint is one the earliest examples of Norie doing so.

John William Norie (1772-1843) was an important hydrographer, chartmaker and publisher, a writer on navigation, and publisher of nautical manuals, as well as selling globes and all manner of nautical instruments. He was agent for the sale of Admiralty charts, and chart seller to the East India Company and Trinity House. He was born in London of Scottish parents, and apprenticed to William Heather, a noted chartmaker, as a draughtsman, and his first charts appear under the Heather imprint from 1795 onwards. In 1813, he bought William Heather's business, in partnership with Charles Wilson. The partnership lasted until 1840, when Norie sold his share of the business to Wilson and retired. Wilson continued to trade as Norie and Wilson, the firm merging with J. Imray and Son in 1899, and surviving to the present as Imray, Laurie, Norie and Wilson Ltd.

Norie had a prolific output of charts, reissuing Heather's stock and adding new charts of his own making of all parts of the world, these too many to list. Important publications include his 'A new and complete epitome of practical navigation' (1805); 'A complete pilot for the south coasts of England and Ireland' (1817); 'The new Mediterranean pilot, containing sailing directions for the coasts of France, Spain, and Portugal, from Ushant to Gibraltar' (1817) and 'Norie's set of celestial maps for finding the principal stars in the heavens' (1825).

Rarity

We are unable to trace any institutional example of the present edition, or any example appearing at auction. The British Library holds an example of Heather's 1809 chart.