Catalog Archive
Auction 130, Lot 145

"Carte du Canada qui Comprend la Partie Septentrionale des Etats Unis…", Delisle/Dezauche

Subject: Colonial United States and Canada, Great Lakes

Period: 1783 (dated)

Publication: Atlas Geographique des Quarte Parties du Monde

Color: Hand Color

Size:
25.3 x 19.5 inches
64.3 x 49.5 cm
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First issued by Guillaume Delisle in 1703, this richly detailed map provides the most accurate rendering of the Great Lakes of the time, with the lakes fully enclosed and properly placed in longitude and latitude. Delisle's map of Canada and the Great Lakes is one of the most outstanding and influential maps of the eighteenth century. It correctly positions the Ohio River but confuses its name with the Wabash River. West of the Mississippi, Lahontan's fictitious Riviere Longue is prominently depicted. In Canada, special attention is given to the rivers and lakes between Hudson Bay and the St. Lawrence, and Lac de Assenipoils (Lake Winnipeg) connects to Hudson Bay. Sanson's three islands of the Arctic are retained. The exquisite cartouche is decorated with a beaver, natives (one of whom is bearing a scalp), and Jesuit explorers. A table of colors below the cartouche distinguishes the boundaries of the United States and European possessions. This is the ninth state of the map, issued by Dezauche circa 1798. Following the French Revolution and the execution of the king, nearly all traces of royalty were erased from the cartouche. This is evidenced at the top of the cartouche where the fleurs-de-lis have been erased from the shield and the crown has been converted into a halo suspended above an orb.

References: Kershaw # 316; Tooley (Amer) #42, p. 21.

Condition: B

There is some faint uneven toning in the map.

Estimate: $750 - $900

Unsold

Closed on 12/2/2009

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