"Carte du Canada qui Comprend la Partie Septentrionale des Etats Unis d'Amerique Dressee sur Plusieurs Observations et sur un Grand Nombre de Relations Imprimees ou Manuscrites...", Delisle/Dezauche

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 in 1798, 1824 and 1833, in which all traces of royalty were erased from the cartouche at the outset of the French Revolution. It is the second state to reflect the founding of the United States.

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

Condition: B+

A nice impression with contemporary outline color on a sturdy sheet with the watermark of a Maltese cross encircled in rosary beads. There is light toning along the centerfold and edges of the sheet, a small paper flaw in the bottom blank margin, and several creases in the top corners.