Catalog Archive
Auction 131, Lot 231

"Carte Reduite des Costes de la Louisiane et de la Floride…", Bellin, Jacques Nicolas

Subject: Colonial South - Florida & Bahamas

Period: 1764 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
33.3 x 22.3 inches
84.6 x 56.6 cm
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Jacques Nicolas Bellin, chief cartographer to the French Navy, produced a number of important maps of the Gulf Coast. This is probably the most significant one of the region due to both its large size and the interesting depiction of the Florida peninsula as a massive archipelago of islands. The depiction of the river systems of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama is extremely detailed for the period and there are a good many Indian villages located, along with several French forts. In the gulf is a large-scale, finely rendered inset of the mouth of the Mississippi. The chart extends to include the Bahama Channel, part of the Bahamas and the northern coastline of Cuba. This is the second state with the sea of the Depot de Marine added near the inset and Prix trente sols below the neatline at bottom left.

References: Tooley (MCC-96) #745, plt. IV.

Condition: B+

There are a couple minor spots at top and an extraneous crease near the centerfold.

Estimate: $3,000 - $3,750

Sold for: $2,750

Closed on 3/17/2010

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