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Description

First Edition of Sanson's Map of Florida and the Southern parts of North America

Striking example of Sanson's important early map of Florida and the Southeast, illustrating a number of early and important cartographic features.

The first atlas map to correctly name Lake Erie, although it is pushed 2.5 degrees too far south, increasing the claims of France. Several new rivers appear in Virginia. The Caroline depicted on the map is Ft. Caroline, not the Carolinas.

The projection of the Southeast is improved over Sanson's folio map of the prior year. The Florida nomenclature is corrected from Sanson's North America map. Most of the rest of the map is Chaves/Ortelius nomenclature. The Southwest is still largely unknown.

This is the first edition of the map, bearing the date of 1657.

Reference
Burden 326; Cumming 53.
Nicolas Sanson Biography

Nicholas Sanson (1600-1667) is considered the father of French cartography in its golden age from the mid-seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth. Over the course of his career he produced over 300 maps; they are known for their clean style and extensive research. Sanson was largely responsible for beginning the shift of cartographic production and excellence from Amsterdam to Paris in the later-seventeenth century.

Sanson was born in Abbeville in Picardy. He made his first map at age twenty, a wall map of ancient Gaul. Upon moving to Paris, he gained the attention of Cardinal Richelieu, who made an introduction of Sanson to King Louis XIII. This led to Sanson's tutoring of the king and the granting of the title ingenieur-geographe du roi

His success can be chalked up to his geographic and research skills, but also to his partnership with Pierre Mariette. Early in his career, Sanson worked primarily with the publisher Melchior Tavernier. Mariette purchased Tavernier’s business in 1644. Sanson worked with Mariette until 1657, when the latter died. Mariette’s son, also Pierre, helped to publish the Cartes générales de toutes les parties du monde (1658), Sanson' atlas and the first French world atlas.