Catalog Archive
Auction 95, Lot 80

"Carte Generale des Decouvertes de l'Amiral de Fonte, et autres Navigateurs Espagnols, Anglois et Russes pour la recherche du Passage a la Mer du Sud Par M. De I'Lsle de l'Acadmie royale des Sciences &c. Publiee a Paris en Septembre 1752", Robert de Vaugondy, Didier

Subject: Western North America

Period: 1777 (published)

Publication: Diderot's Encyclopedia

Color: Black & White

Size:
15 x 11.5 inches
38.1 x 29.2 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

One of the more remarkable combinations of fact and fiction in the mapping of the Pacific Northwest. Its source was an account published in 1708 of what purported to be a newly discovered account of a voyage in 1640 by the Spanish Admiral, Bartholomew de Fonte. Thereafter, the account was changed and elaborated upon, most notably by this series of maps which appeared in Diderot's Encyclopedia. In its concept it promoted the hopes of a Northwest Passage and depicts the existence of the 'Mer de l'Ouest' or the Sea of the West.

References: Pedley #454, Hayes #34.

Condition: A

This fine example has a crisp impression on fine hand-laid paper with watermark and wide margins.

Estimate: $250 - $300

Sold for: $170

Closed on 6/13/2001

Archived