c 1745 "Mappe-Monde...'' Delisle - Covens & Mortier

$3,900.00

"MAPPE-MONDE Dressé sur les Observations de Mrs DE L'ACADEMIE ROYALE des SCIENCES..." Guillaume De l'Isle.  Amsterdam:  Chez Jean Covens & Corneille Mortier, c. 1745.  Important engravedworld map in two hemispheres with original hand-coloring (cartouches later color).   (Image: 19 1/2 x 25 1/8'')  Reference: Shirley # 603, 581.

With this historical map, De l'Isle "was one of the first, in his world map, to correct the extended length of the Mediterranean and give back to California its true peninsular formation" (Shirley The Mapping of the World, #603). 

“Improvements initiated by De l’Isle, in fact, were so numerous that he is credited with almost single-handedly elevating France to a dominating position geographically” (Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery: Portraits of the World, #53).Tracks and dates of the principal circumnavigators are shown. 

Also of note: Published following the Russian discovery of Alaska, the Northwest region is no longer labeled “Terra Incognita” and instead the latest exploratory routes of the area are shown (including the track of Bering’s voyage) with descriptive notes

The title to this beautiful map is framed with an elegant cartouche, balanced on either side by a flowing banner with maps of the Arctic and Antarctic regions on either side.  The bottom displays another dramatic cartouche floating at sea with ships on the horizon and spheres displaying the "Antipodes" to Paris (the region directly opposite on the earth) and "Planisphere" projection from the North Pole with Paris at the center of the circle.

Shipped unmatted

  • Inventory# M-13280