Catalog Archive
Auction 156, Lot 72

"Atlantis Insula a Nicolao Sanson Antiquitati Restituta; nunc Demum Majori Forma Delineata, et in Decem Regna, Iuxta Decem Neptuni Filios Distributa...", Sanson, Guillaume

Subject: Western Hemisphere - America

Period: 1699 (dated)

Publication: Tabulae Geographicae, Quibus Universa Geographia vetus Continentur…

Color: Hand Color

Size:
22.2 x 15.7 inches
56.4 x 39.9 cm
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This is Sanson's unusual composition showing ancient geography within a contemporary outline of the Americas, which is noted in the cartouche as the mythical island of Atlantis. This is a purely topographical map and the only cities shown are Mexico City and Cuzco, the capitals of the New World. The continents are divided into ten regions, named for the ten sons of Neptune. The Great Lakes are shown but still very misshapen. A large lake in the western part of North America is the source of a river that empties into the sea between the continent and the island of California. In South America, the mythical Lake Parime appears just north of the equator, but is not named. The map includes both Asian and European coastlines and bits of New Guinea, New Zealand, and Australia. The large cartouche is surrounded by Neptune and his ten sons. This is the fourth state, according to Burden, with Novus Orbis potius Altera Continens Sive added above the title.

References: Burden #405; McLaughlin #46; cf. Tooley p. 124, #51.

Condition: A

A clean and bright example with a dark impression on watermarked paper. There is light soiling confined to the blank margins.

Estimate: $700 - $850

Unsold

Closed on 2/17/2016

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