Catalog Archive
Auction 160, Lot 89

Important Map for Great Lakes Collectors

"Amerique Septentrionale par N. Sanson d'Abbeville…", Sanson/Mariette

Subject: Colonial North America

Period: 1650 (dated)

Publication: Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde…

Color: Hand Color

Size:
21.9 x 15.4 inches
55.6 x 39.1 cm
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Sanson's important map of North America is the first to show all of the Great Lakes in a recognizable form, and the first to name lakes Superior and Ontario. The Arctic bears the cartography typical of this date, with Greenland shown as three islands, and another three-island mass in Baffin Bay. Buttons Bay is left open-ended to the west, allowing the hopeful possibility of a Northwest Passage. The map extends to include Iceland and Britain, as well as Central America and the Caribbean. On the east coast, Nouvelle Amsterdam (New York) is located on a very small and misplaced island. Delaware is noted as N. Suede, the first such place name on a printed map referring to the Swedish colony located there in 1638. The Southeast features two fictional lakes near the Carolinas, and the Chesapeake Bay is greatly enlarged. Many native tribes are identified in New Mexico where the R. del Norte (Rio Grande) mistakenly flows from an interior lake and empties into the Mar Vermeio (Gulf of California). This is the second state of the map with a coastline added to the northwest of the Island of California and with Lake Ontario still depicted as part of a river system. Engraved by A. Peyrounin.

References: Burden #294; McLaughlin #12; Wheat (TMW) #47; Pastoureau, Sanson V A [85].

Condition: B+

Watermarked paper with original outline color that has been partially refreshed and later color in the cartouche. There is light printer's ink residue, minor soiling, and light toning along the centerfold. There are a couple of unobtrusive printer's creases adjacent to the centerfold, and a short tear in the bottom blank margin has been repaired on verso with old paper.

Estimate: $2,400 - $3,250

Sold for: $2,100

Closed on 11/16/2016

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