William Faden (1749-1836) was the most prominent London mapmaker and publisher of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. His father, William Mackfaden, was a printer who dropped the first part of his last name due to the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Apprenticed to an engraver in the Clothworkers' Company, he was made free of the Company in August of 1771. He entered into a partnership with the family of Thomas Jeffreys, a prolific and well-respected mapmaker who had recently died in 1771. This partnership lasted until 1776.
Also in 1776, Faden joined the Society of Civil Engineers, which later changed its name to the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers. The Smeatonians operated as an elite, yet practical, dining club and his membership led Faden to several engineering publications, including canal plans and plans of other new engineering projects.
Faden's star rose during the American Revolution, when he produced popular maps and atlases focused on the American colonies and the battles that raged within them. In 1783, just as the war ended, Faden inherited his father's estate, allowing him to fully control his business and expand it; in the same year he gained the title "Geographer in Ordinary to his Majesty."
Faden also commanded a large stock of British county maps, which made him attractive as a partner to the Ordnance Survey; he published the first Ordnance map in 1801, a map of Kent. The Admiralty also admired his work and acquired some of his plates which were re-issued as official naval charts.
Faden was renowned for his ingenuity as well as his business acumen. In 1796 he was awarded a gold medal by the Society of Arts. With his brother-in-law, the astronomer and painter John Russell, he created the first extant lunar globe.
After retiring in 1823 the lucrative business passed to James Wyld, a former apprentice. He died in Shepperton in 1826, leaving a large estate.
![The United States of North America with the British Territories And Those of Spain, according to the Treaty of 1784 . . . 1793 [shows Franklinia!]](/map/small/64978.jpg)
Rare First State of Franklin's United States Showing The State of Franklin! Scarce map of the United States, which includes the State of Franklinia in Western North Carolina. One of the first and finest English maps to display the boundaries of the...
Extremely rare British chart of the entrance to the Río de la Plata, published by William Faden in London in 1817, based on surveys made by John Warner in 1810-1814. The chart covers from Sierra de Buena Vista mountain at the far northeast, to Buenos...
Fine Plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill—Illustrating Two Phases of the Action Nice example of William Faden's important Revolutionary War battle plan of the Battle of Bunker Hill, as issued by William Stedman. The present example has a single fold...
An important early battle plan, showing the position of the British and American Troops following the second battle of Saratoga. Following the first battle, Burgoyne took a defensive position, while the Americans withdrew to wait for his next move....
Fine example of William Faden's important early chart of the Delaware River, prepared on the eve of the American Revolutionary War. Fadens chart is the earliest obtainable derivative of Joshua Fisher's virtually unobtainable map, which has been...
![[Revolutionary War Battle Plan] The Course of Delaware River from Philadelphia to Chester, Exhibiting the several Works erected by the Rebels to defend its Passage, with the Attacks made upon them by is Majesty's Land & Sea Forces . . . 1778](/map/small/62288.jpg)
Revolutionary War Battle Plan -- Fine Original Outline Color First state (of three) of Faden's battle map of the Delaware River, between Philadelphia and Chester. Faden's map depicts the Theater of War on the Delaware River, just below Philadelphia,...
The Very Rare and Authoritative Revolutionary War Plan of the Battle of Germantown The present map showcases the Battle of Germantown, Pennsylvania, an especially dramatic action of the Revolutionary War that occurred on October 4th, 1777, during the...
Rare second state of Faden's map of New Jersey, based upon Bernard Ratzer's surveys in 1769, as significantly revised and improved by Faden in December 1778. This rare second state of the map, issued 12 months after the first edition, is based upon...
Rare Separately Issued Faden Map of the Caribbean &c. Detailed large format chart of the West Indies, Florida, Honduras, Nicaragua, Coast Rica, Panama and the Bahamas drawn by Louis Stanislas Delarochette, and published by William Faden in 1796....
Scarce example of Faden's Revolutionary War battle map drawn by Vallancey, a British Captain. The map shows the position of the troops of the Lord Rawdon versus Nathanial Greene. Noted on the map are Log Town (destroy'd) and Mr. Charleston's burnt...
Fine, Famed Map of the North Pacific from Cook’s Third Voyage—First Edition! Rare, first edition of the so-called “lost” chart of Captain James Cook, published in 1784 by William Faden. The map illustrates in great detail the known and...
Fine, Detailed, Separately-Issued Plan of the Siege of Quebec (1775-6) Rare, separately-published plan of the Siege of Quebec, published by William Faden in London. The plan shows a pivotal early moment in the American Revolution and highlights the...
Rare separately issued chart of Newfoundland, published in London by William Faden in 1791. Faden's chart covers the entire island of Newfoundland along with a portion of the coast of Labrador bordering the Gulf of St. Lawrence. There is fine detail...
Scarce map of the Eastern Caribbean and Northeastern Coast of South America, published by Thomas Jefferys. The map extending from the Virgin Islands to Margarita and Trinidad Islands to Cayenne and Lake Parima, including a nice treatment of the...
![[Belize] A Map of A Part of Yucatan or of that Part of the Eastern Shore within the Bay of Honduras Allotted to Great Britain for the Cutting of Logwood, in consequence of the Convention Signed with Spain on the 14th July 1786. By a Bay-Man . . . 1787 [](/map/small/60976.jpg)
First Modern Map of Northern Belize, with Text from the Logwood Treaties between Britain and Spain Rare, separately published 1787 logwood map of Honduras and modern-day Belize printed by William Faden, Geographer to the King. This is the first...
![[Unrecorded First State] Columbia Prima or South America, in which has been Attempted to Delineate the Extent of our Knowledge ... Extracted Chiefly from ... Manuscript Maps of ... Pinto ... Rocha ... Ferreira ... Sobreviela ... by ... Louis Stanislas D'](/map/small/52063.jpg)
Unrecorded First State of The Best English Map of South America of The Early 19th Century -- Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex Copy Exceptional map of South America, at the outset of its Century of Independence, without question the finest...
