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Stock# 110470
Description

This is the second part of Mentelle's Cosmographie Elementaire, Divisee en Parties Astronomique et Geographique, which was first published in Paris in 1781.

This updated edition, pubished in the An VII (the 7th Year of the the French Republic), includes significant revisions to the maps, most notably accounting for the changing geographical borders associated with new discoveries in America, American Independence and French Independence.

The map shows the Sea of the West on both the World map and the map of North America.  The key on the North America map notes 14 states, including Vermont, which became a state on March 4, 1791. 

However, the most notable and difficult to explain feature is the treatment of Alaska as an island, with a a massive Great Lake (Grande Eau) shown, with two wide waterways flowing from the lake to the sea., and, most notably, a passage by water east of Alaska that connects to the Arctic Sea.

The Great Lake and "Island of Alaska" are novel features. This is the first time we have seen this configuration.

 

Condition Description
327 pp. 10 folded, hand-colored maps. Contemporary leather binding with gilt spine decoration and two colored spine labels.