Catalog Archive
Auction 174, Lot 75

"L'Amerique, Meridionale, et Septentrionale. Dressee Selon les Dernieres Relations et Suivant les Nouvelles Decouvertes...", Fer, Nicolas de

Subject: Western Hemisphere - America

Period: 1727 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
23.6 x 18.3 inches
59.9 x 46.5 cm
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This is de Fer's reduced version of his wall map of America. It features the Island of California covering the entire west coast north of the Tropic of Cancer. One of the prominent features in northern Mexico is Les Mine de S. Iean et de Ste. Barbe, the legendary Santa Barbara mines of the Chihuahua-Durango region. The Pacific Northwest and Alaska are essentially blank. There are also several large spurious lakes on both continents, including Lake May in the Carolinas. A partial coastline of New Zealand appears beside the title cartouche. The map is richly decorated with three cartouches and two compass roses. Engraved by Hendrick van Loon, who also contributed to de Fer's wall map. This appears to fall between states 3 and 4 according to Burden, as it is dated 1727 but does not yet have Bernard's imprint at bottom right.

References: Burden #753.

Condition: B+

Contemporary outline color, slightly faded on paper with a large watermark of rosary beads. There is a light damp stain in the upper margin that extends along the centerfold, which also has a separation that has been repaired with old paper on verso. A 2" tear at bottom center has also been archivally repaired.

Estimate: $1,100 - $1,400

Sold for: $1,000

Closed on 9/11/2019

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