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Description

Great antique map of Gascogny and southwestern France, showing the region between the Charente-Maritime coastline to the Languedoc in the east. The map was published in 1650 by Nicolas Sanson, one of the leading French cartographers of the 17th century.

The map is highly detailed, naming many cities such as Bordeaux, Bayonne, Toulouse, Agen, Albi, and Foix. The Pyrenees and their foothills are shown pictorially. The Atlantic is named "The large sea."

Condition Description
Original hand-color in oultine. Large loss in right margin. Minor offsetting.
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.