|
|
Guilllaume De L'Isle: L'Amerique Septentrionale Dressee sur les Observations de Mrs. de l'Academie Royale des Sciences . . . Rue des Canettes prez de St. Sulspice Avec Privilege du Roy pur 20. ans 1700
Title: L'Amerique Septentrionale Dressee sur les Observations de Mrs. de l'Academie Royale des Sciences . . . Rue des Canettes prez de St. Sulspice Avec Privilege du Roy pur 20. ans 1700 Map Maker: Guilllaume De L'Isle
Description: Extremely rare first state of De L'Isle's highly important map of North America. The first state of De L'Isle's map of North America is a widely celebrated cartographic landmark. Most notably, De L'Isle's map is the first map to revert to the treatment of California as a peninsula, based upon reports received from Fra. Eusebio Kino. Tooley referred to the map as "a foundation map...and the first to revert to a peninsular form of California" (Tooley, "French Mapping of the Americas" in The Mapping of America, p. 19). Because of De L'Isle's access to the information from French explorers in the New World at a time when the French dominated the explorations of the interior of the continent, De L'Isle's maps were invariably updated and innovative in their content. While his first regional maps did not appear until 1703 (Carte du Mexique et de la Floride... and Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France) and 1718 (Carte de la Louisiane et du cours de Mississipi.... ), this map represents De L'Isle's first work on America and was extremely influential on other maps of the period, both for what it includes and as a snapshot of the knowledge available to De L'Isle in the 3 years immediately prior to his issuing the regional maps. The example offered here is the historically referred to as the first state (cartouche with cartographer's title "Geographe" and address "Rue de Canettes"). An article in the Map Collector (Issue 26, pp. 2-6, March 1984) by Schwartz & Taliaferro described a copy in Austria of an earlier state in which the mouth of the Mississippi River is shown in Texas, rather than as on the present copy, in Louisiana slightly west of longitude 280º. No further copies of the map in earlier state have surfaced, and Philip Burden has referred to the earliest state as virtually a proof. Guillaume De L'Isle (1675-1726) is probably the greatest figure in French cartography. Having learned geography from his father Claude, by age of eight or nine he could draw maps to demonstrate ancient history. He studied mathematics and astronomy under J.D Cassini, where he received the grounding in scientific cartography, that is the hallmark of his work. His first atlas was published in about 1700, in 1702 he was elected a member of the Academie Royale des Sciences, and in 1718 he became ‘Premier Geographe du Roi’. His maps of the newly explored parts of the world reflect the most up-to-date information available and did not contain fanciful detail in the absence of solid information. De L'Isle's work was important as marking a transition from the maps of the Dutch school, which were highly decorative and artistically-orientated, to a more scientific approach. He reduced the importance given to the decorative elements in maps, and emphasised the scientific base on which they were constructed. It can be fairly said that he was truly the father of the modern school of cartography at the commercial level. De L’Isle also played a prominent part in the recalculation of latitude and longitude, based on the most up-to-date celestial observations. His major contribution was in collating and incorporating this latitudinal and longitudinal information in his maps, setting a new standard of accuracy, quickly followed by many of his contemporaries. Guillaume De L’Isle’s work was widely copied by other mapmakers of the period, including Chatelain, Covens & Mortier, and Albrizzi. Condition Description: Full original color. Minor toning
Related Categories:
|
||||||||||
