Rare first edition of Jaillot's large decorative map of Sicily. The island is divided into 3 provinces, with significant cartographic and geographic information included.
The present example is a fine dark impression of the map. The title cartouche does not include the reference to Sanson, which is found in later editions. This early edition also does not include the letters in the outer border, with the longitude and latitude numbers.
The title cartouche includes two sea gods holding the cartouche aloft, with a coat of arms and other allegorical figures riding atop the image. A fine decorative example with wide clean margins and 2 large cartouches.
The first state is apparently quite scare. This is the "original" Jaillot map ("original" in contrast to the later "contrefacon hollandaise" map).
Alexis-Hubert Jaillot (ca. 1632-1712) was one of the most important French cartographers of the seventeenth century. Jaillot traveled to Paris with his brother, Simon, in 1657, hoping to take advantage of Louis XIV's call to the artists and scientists of France to settle and work in Paris. Originally a sculptor, he married the daughter of Nicholas Berey, Jeanne Berey, in 1664, and went into partnership with Nicholas Sanson's sons. Beginning in 1669, he re-engraved and often enlarged many of Sanson's maps, filling in the gap left by the destruction of the Blaeu's printing establishment in 1672.