This collection of old maps is designed to illustrate the course of American history from the earliest time down to the close of the Revolutionary War. The editors have brought them together from their hiding places in dark, dusty, and, in some cases, forgotten repositories. The seventy-four maps here reproduced were selected from many thousands examined by the editors in the great libraries in America, in the Vatican, in the British Museum, and in the Bibliothèque Nationale. Each map is accompanied by a brief essay setting forth its historical significance. As far as possible, the map is allowed to tell its own story through the reproduction of its numerous legends, aided by quotations from contemporary books.