Rare First State of Uncommon French & Indian War Map

"[Canada et Louisiane]", Le Rouge, George Louis

This important map was issued at the outbreak of hostilities in the French and Indian War. The detailed map depicts the entire eastern seaboard from northern Florida to the Strait of Belle Isle, and the Great Lakes region up to Lake Michigan and eastern Lake Superior. The American interests of France, England and Spain are shown in great detail and color-coded. Fort Duquesne is shown in two different places on the map - according to D’Anville and also to Jefferys. A large inset shows the upper Mississippi River valley with the important frontier forts. A smaller inset shows the lower Mississippi and Gulf Coast. A small vignette of Niagara Falls adds further interest to this fascinating map.

This is the rare first state of the map with only one color-coded key to the right of Nova Scotia identifying the "pretensions" (claims) of the French, Spanish and English. The key was intended to indicate claims from a French perspective; a second key was later added to indicate claims from an English perspective. Le Rouge later updated the plate in 1777 and retitled it to Theatre de la Guerre en Amerique, and the map was then retitled Carte d'une Partie de l'Amerique Septentrionale for Francois Soules' Histoire des Troubles de l'Amerique Anglaises, published in 1787.

References: McCorkle #755.23; Sellers and Van Ee #33.

Condition: B

A nice impression with contemporary outline color on a sheet with the watermark of a Maltese cross encircled in rosary beads. There is soiling along the top and bottom edges of the sheet, and the sheet has been trimmed with loss of the title above the map. The edges of the sheet have been reinforced with archival tissue on verso, and some short tears along the top edge of the sheet have been archivally repaired. A small chip at top right has been repaired with a portion of the border replaced in facsimile.