(Image : 19 x 23’’) ''AMÉRIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE...1750'' Paris: S. Robert De Vaugondy, c. 1750 (first edition, dated in the cartouche). Engraved map with original hand-coloring. Fine condition, clean and bright, centerfold as issued.
Scarce first edition example of De Vaugondy's large scale map of North America, published in the Atlas Universel. This mid-18th century map was published just a few years prior to the 1756 onset of the French & Indian War. During this period the region of the St. Lawrence Valley, the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley became very well known to French traders.
De Vaugondy, who was Geographer to the King of France, had access to privileged source material, which enabled him to publish the most accurate maps of the period. Political boundaries, which reflect the French claims, are well noted and Indian Tribes are located throughout.
Although the Northeast region is quite accurate for the period, it is evident that southern Florida & the Northwest region have yet to be explored. The area of present-day Texas shows the location of La Salle’s settlement as well as the place of his death in 1685. The cartouche depicts people, vegetation & animals native to North America (including a bear nestled in the top of a tree).
This is an attractively engraved map, in excellent condition, of the entire North American continent at a historic period before the outbreak of the French and Indian and the Revolutionary Wars which dramatically altered the political geography of the entire region.
Shipped unmatted
