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Description

Rare map of the Northwest Coast of America and Northeast Coast of Asia, showing Cook's Tracks through the Pacific.

Buache's map is based upon the earlier maps of the region, originally prepared by J.N. De L'Isle to report the Russian Discoveries in America. This De L'Isle model became the most popular presentation of the discoveries in the North Pacific for the next 50 years, as Cook, Vancouver and La Perouse explored and mapped the region, systematically eliminating some of the last great cartographic myths in the region, including the Sea of the West and several extraordinarily inaccurate treatments of the Alaskan Coastline.

In addition to its rarity (this is the first exampe of the map we have seen), this version of the De L'Isle map is noteworthy for its systematic reporting of many of the great myths of the interior of Western North America. Among the more interesting features of hte map is the inclusion of Fousang's discoveries (Chinese discovery of America prior to Columbus), Conibas, Quivira, Aztlan et Tuculhuacan, Bagiopas, Mozeemleck, and a marvelous ephemeral treatment of the southwestern coastline of Alaska.

The map is also is a rare look at "Lac de Fuentes," which would seem to be a last ditch effort to preserve the myth of the Sea of the West in the wake of Cook's exploration of the Northwestern Coastline. The marvelous open sea is gone, but in its place are two straits, one of whic hends inthe R. de los Reyes and ultimately connects to the massive inland Lake (Fuentes) and the second dissects modern Alaska, suggesting a direct water course from Sothern Alaska to the Glacial Sea above North America.

Condition Description
Minor foxing and soiling
Philippe Buache Biography

Philippe Buache (1700-1773) was one of the most famous French geographers of the eighteenth century. Buache was married to the daughter of the eminent Guillaume Delisle and worked with his father-in-law, carrying on the business after Guillaume died. Buache gained the title geographe du roi in 1729 and was elected to the Academie des Sciences in the same year. Buache was a pioneering theoretical geographer, especially as regards contour lines and watersheds. He is best known for his works such as Considérations géographiques et physiques sur les découvertes nouvelles dans la grande mer (Paris, 1754).

Jean-Claude Dezauche Biography

Jean-Claude Dezauche (fl. 1780-1838) was a French map publisher. Initially, his work focused on engraving music, but he later turned primarily to cartography. His is best known for editing and reissuing the maps of Guilluame De L’Isle and Philippe Buache, two of the most skilled mapmakers of the eighteenth century. He acquired the plates of these two men’s work in 1780 from Buache’s heir, Jean-Nicolas Buache. Dezauche's business received a further boon when he received a privilege to sell the charts of the Dépôt de la Marine. His business was carried on by his son, Jean-Andre Dezauche.