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Description:This is without doubt one of the most important foundation maps, of North America, published in the early to mid 18th century. A large 1st edition, original hand coloured copper-plate engraved antique map of North America, by Pierre Mortier, after Guillaume Delisle, that was published in 1708 in Atlas nouveau de dicerses cartes choisies des Meilleurs Geographes comme Sanson, G De Lisle &c....A Amsterdam..... A rare map with the mistaken dedication to Nicolas Sanson, in the title. This oversight was removed in all other subsequent editions.
General Definitions:Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy and stableAntonio ZattadelislePaper color : - off whiteAge of map color: - Original & laterColors used: - Blue, pink, red, green, yellowGeneral color appearance: - AuthenticPaper size: - 23 1/2in x 19in (595mm x 485mm)Plate size: - 23in x 17 3/4in (580mm x 450mm)Margins: - Min 1/2in (15mm)
Imperfections:Margins: - NonePlate area: - NoneVerso: - None
Background: There are many reasons why this rare 1st edition foundation map is important. It contains detail of radical changes both to the interior of North America and helps debunk many fundamentally held ideas of the coastlines. Some of these ideas included The Great lakes, California as an island and previously invented ideas of the interior, NW & NE coastlines.Specifically the shape of the Great Lakes are changed based on information from the great Italian cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli. The Mississippi valley is well developed with recent French settlement of d\'Iberville at Bilochy and the forts at Bon Secours and St Louis. The map also corrects the error of the western swing of the lower part of the Mississippi River, moving its mouth to essentially its correct position on the Gulf of Mexico. Delisle has also corrected longitude positions and was the first to revert to a peninsular form for California. He stops his western coast at Cape Mendocin and is the first map to show the Saragossa Sea.The map also illustrates the routes of explorers such as Cortez, Drake, D\'Olivier, Gaeten and Mendana, and indicates the locates of a number of Indian tribes, including the Apaches. As this is a French map we see many of the French strong points in the NE such as Tadousac, Quebec, Fort Sorel, Montreal & Fort Frontenac included. The English settlements are confined to the east of the Alleghenies, with Fort and River Kinibeki as the border between New England and Arcadia. Such was the improvement of this map, and the sterling reputation of Delisle, that within a few years other publishers issued their own copies of the map, which continued to appear until the 1780s. The importance of this map cannot be overstated in the progression of American cartography. (Ref: M&B; Tooley)