Amerique Septentrionale divisee en Ses Principales parties.
1694. 1694.
18 x 22.5 inches. Framed map, hand-colored; frame bumped, map in very good condition. Not examined out of frame.
§ Jaillot’s impressive map of North America, with California as an island. The map, printed in a wide-format, shows all that was then known of North America on a curved projection. The tip of South America is included, as are the British Isles. In the Pacific, a phantom coastline is labeled as “Terre de Iesso, ou Ieco,” a reference to a series of North Pacific chimeras related to the search for land sighted by Juan de Gama in the sixteenth century. Details are densely included in Mexico and Central America, as well as the East Coast of North America. Beyond the Appalachian Mountains and outside Nueva España, however, there is much blank space and conjecture. Also of note is the representation of the Great Lakes, which are open at the west end. The far north is riddled with incomplete coastlines, showing the nascent degree of exploration in that area. There is also a suggestive open end to Buttons Bay, a tantalizing possibility of a Northwest Passage.
As the title running along the top edge explains, an important part of the map is to denote the political divisions of European imperial possessions. These are marked by dotted lines on the map. An eight-layered scale is in the lower left, with indigenous Americans on either side of the ornate frame. In the upper left is the title cartouche and dedication, another ornate embellishment with indigenous Americans, parrots, and the coat of arms of the Dauphin, the dedicatee. The title cartouche also credits Nicolas Sanson; indeed, the depiction of California is based on the second Sanson or the Luke Foxe model, while the East Coast is derived from his map of 1666.
Due to the rocky relationship between the Jaillot and Sanson firms, there are several closely-related yet separate plates of this map. We have not established which state this is. Item #124250
Price: $2,950.00