maps
Thomas Jefferys was an 18th-century British cartographer and geographer, engraver and publisher.
As the best in the business of map-making, Jefferys held the honorary title of "King George III's geographer". He is known for his detailed and large-scale maps of the districts and counties of Great Britain as well as North America, particularly Virginia (1776). He was the leading map supplier of his day, engraving and printing maps for government and other official bodies.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was a British writer and poet, translator, philologist, and linguist.
Tolkien wrote many works in the genre of magical fiction. He became world famous for his fantasy books The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954-55).
"The Hobbit" was published in 1937 with drawings by the author and proved so popular that the publisher asked him to write a sequel. The result, 17 years later, was Tolkien's masterpiece, "The Lord of the Rings," which was voted the best book of the 20th century. By the beginning of the 21st century, more than 50 million copies had been sold in 30 languages. The film version of "The Lord of the Rings" by New Zealand director Peter Jackson, released in three parts in 2001-2003, broke world viewing records.
Tolkien has been called the "father" of modern high fantasy literature.
Patrick Browne was an Irish physician and historian, traveler, naturalist and botanist.
Patrick Browne studied medicine in Paris, graduated from the University of Reims, continued his studies in Leiden, and then worked as a doctor at St. Thomas' Hospital in London. Subsequently, he lived for many years in the Caribbean, in Antigua, Santa Cruz, Montserrat and Jamaica, where he practiced medicine. He devoted all his spare time to the study of the natural history of the island. In 1771, Brown returned to Mayo County.
In 1756, Brown published A Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, his most significant work in terms of Carl Linnaeus's botanical nomenclature, which included new names for 104 genera.
George Heriot was a Scottish and Canadian civil servant, writer and artist.
As a young man, Heriot traveled to the West Indies, wrote and sketched extensively during his stay in the Caribbean, and, returning to London in 1781, published a "Descriptive Poem". He then studied art at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich and taught painting.
In 1792 he was sent to Quebec as clerk in the artillery department. From 1800 to 1816. Heriot served as deputy postmaster general of British North America, and upon retirement returned to Britain. During his time in Canada, in addition to his main job, George Heriot traveled extensively, as well as painting and writing. He published two books based on his experiences in the country: A History of Canada since its First Discovery (1804) and A Journey through Canada (1807), with his own illustrations.
Thomas Loraine McKenney was an American statesman and author.
After the abolition of the U.S. Indian trading program in 1822, then Secretary of War John C. Calhoun established a position in the War Department called Superintendent of Indian Affairs (later to become part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs). McKenney was the first appointed to this position and held it until 1830. Over the years, he worked tirelessly to promote Indian-American relations, advocating for the interests of Indians and striving to preserve the memory of their vanishing culture. Despite his interest in Native American history, McKenney sought to have them assimilated to Euro-American culture through Christian education.
McKenney commissioned leading artists, including Charles Byrd King, to paint portraits of Indian chiefs from more than twenty tribes who visited Washington on official business over a ten-year period. These portraits formed the basis of the government's National Portrait Gallery, first housed in the War Department and later transferred to the Smithsonian Institution. This gallery was featured in part in the three-volume History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836-1844), with biographical sketches by McKenney, co-authored with Illinois lawyer and writer James Hall.
In 1865, a fire at the Smithsonian Institution destroyed all but a few of the portraits, which are now in the White House. Thus this three-volume book represents the only reliable source on the appearance of many of the most prominent leaders of Indian tribes.
James Hall was an American lawyer, judge, treasurer, and editor.
Hall studied law, fought in the War of 1812, served as a lawyer and circuit judge, newspaper and magazine editor, Illinois state treasurer, and banker in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he was also a historical and fiction writer. In 1828, Hall compiled the first western literary yearbook, Western Souvenir, and edited the Illinois Monthly Magazine. James Hall wrote a travel book, Letters from the West (1828), a novel, The Head of the Harp (1833), and several volumes of short stories.
Hall also contributed to the three-volume History of the Indian Tribes of North America (1836-1844). This book includes portraits of the chiefs of more than twenty Indian tribes, which were painted by noted artists of the day, with biographical sketches by Superintendent of Indian Affairs Thomas L. McKenney.
Karl Bodmer was a Swiss-French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draughtsman, painter, illustrator and hunter.
