“The first general history of Maine” (Howes), written while it was still a district of Massachusetts.  It includes an extensive description of Maine geography, with particular attention to “capes, bays, harbours, and rivers;” the discovery, exploration and early settlement of the region; the culture and customs of the native peoples; and the Revolutionary era. 

Born in Berwick, Maine in 1744, James Sullivan had a distinguished career in public service. He practiced law and served as king’s counsel for York County, then went on to and serve as a judge, a justice on the Massachusetts Superior Court (1776-1782), Attorney General of Massachusetts (1790-1807), and as Governor of Massachusetts from May 1807 until his death at the end of 1808. He was nominally a member of the Continental Congress (1782-1783), although he never actually took his seat. He was also a founding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society (1791) and its first president.

Sullivan clearly saw the History as both an expression of civic pride and a vehicle for improvement of the population:

“…we cannot fail to be convinced, that the genuine deeds of republicanism, which have produced our glorious revolution, with a rich harvest of civil liberty, were planted by our ancestors, in the soil of America, at a very early date; and that nothing but an unreasonable indulgence of a disposition to avarice, and ambition, groundless jealousies, a criminal supineness in public concerns, or an unpardonable inattention to the modes of education, can ever deprive us, of that elevated prosperity and happiness, to which, under the direction of a good and wise Providence, the principles of civil freedom, well understood, and wisely exerted, have raised our nation.” (vi-vii)

The map
The History is illustrated by a wonderful “Map of the District of Maine Drawn from the latest Surveys and other best Authorities by Osgood Carleton” (1795).  Thompson rightly calls it “one of the most important of the state ever published.”

The map depicts all of Maine and a significant portion of New Brunswick.  County boundaries are delineated, as are those of well over a hundred townships—the great majority apparently surveyed by order of Massachusetts General Court preparatory to sale but still awaiting purchasers.  Also shown are two vast land purchases made by Philadelphia financier William Bingham, as well as numerous grants to towns, schools, “societies”, and other entities.

Following the American interpretation of the Treaty of Paris (1783), the northern border with Quebec is shown lying along the “high lands” paralleling the St. Lawrence River.  This boundary was of cause of a major dispute with Great Britain (a near-war, in fact) that was not resolved until the 1840s. Indeed, for negotiations held 1796, Sullivan was appointed an agent to the American delegation meeting with the British.

Osgood Carleton (1744-1816)
Thompson writes of Carleton: “Osgood Carleton was the pioneer American map maker of his time, when cartography in the New World was in its infancy. He mastered the difficult task of compiling maps from many different sources, often inaccurate and incomplete, and then rendering this information using crude instruments into fine detailed cartographic masterpieces.” (p. 139).

Carleton produced two other maps of Maine: His first, The District of Main from the latest surveys (1793), was the first printed map to focus on Maine.  The second, “An Accurate Map, of the District of Maine” (1798), was, together with Carleton’s “An Accurate Map of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts” (1798) the first official map of the state of Massachusetts.  Though the 1798 Commonwealth of Massachusetts map was an entirely new production, the accompanying District of Maine map appears to have been an updated and larger-scale version of the map produced for Sullivan’s History.

Publication history
Isaiah Thomas, Sr. and Ebenezer Turrell Andrews announced their plans to publish the History by subscription in the [Boston] Independent Chronicle on February 24, 1794:

“PROPOSAL of THOMAS and ANDREWS, For PRINTING by SUBSCRIPTION, The following valuable Works, viz. The HISTORY of the DISTRICT of MAINE, illustrated by a new and accurate MAP. By JAMES SULLIVAN, A.M. A.A.S. …” (Vol. XXIV, no. 11148, page 3).

The History was to be printed on the best paper, priced “Twelve Shillings handsomely bound, or Ten Shillings and six Pence in boards”, and its publication was anticipated in the spring of that year. Indeed, it was registered for copyright in the Massachusetts District Court Ledger on March 24, 1794 (43 MA 44), and offered for sale in the Massachusetts Spy or the Worcester Gazette of April 8, 1795 (Vol. XXIV, no. 11152, page 4), priced $2. A few examples of the map were offered separately for 3s.

The History was not well received at its time of publication, but as a pioneering effort it is by definition a landmark in the study of Maine history. Thompson, who should know, argues that “collectors of Mainiana, of American history in general, and of Maine maps, are indebted to Sullivan for his effort.”

References
For the volume:  Evans #29589. Howes, U.S.-Iana, S-1122. Sabin, Dictionary of Books Related to America, #93499. Thompson, Important Maine Maps, Books, Prints and Ephemera, #18A.  For the map:  McCorkle, Early Printed Maps of New England, #Me795.1. Thompson, Important Maine Maps, Books, Prints and Ephemera, #100. Thompson, Printed Maps of the District and State of Maine, #2. Wheat and Brun, Maps and Charts Published in America before 1800, #171.