A Fine Large Atlas By The First Family of 17th Century French Cartography -- William B. Goodwin Copy
A fine tall example of a rare late Sanson family world atlas in a contemporary binding, extra illustrated with four additional maps, representing an exceptionally fine and scientifically accurate depiction of the world in the second half of the 17th Century.
The atlas consists 128 double page maps, of which 124 maps numbered in an early hand and listed in the handwritten index at the end of the book, with an additional 4 unnumbered and unlisted maps. The maps include a full suite of 12 Sanson's influential maps of the Americas, 3 world maps, a celestial map, 10 maps of Asia, 8 maps of Africa and 2 maps of islands in the Atlantic Ocean.
The atlas includes Pierre Mariette's extremely rare celestial map (Planisphere du Globe Celeste), Pierre Van Lochum's Duche de Milan, Pierre Mariette's Estat De La Seigneurie De Venize en Italie, Pierre Du Val's Les Isles Terceres and Les Isles Canaries. The 4 maps not listed in the handwritten index, are:
- Pierre Du Val: Provinces Unies des Pais-Bas connues sous le nom Holland . . . 1689
- Nicolas de Fer: Le Comte de Flandre . . .
- Nicolas de Fer: Carte Des Lignes ou Les Frontiere de la Flandre Francoise, et Espagnole . . .
- Claude Rousell: l'Architecture Militaire ou L'Art des Fortifications . . . . 1697.
The maps include dates between 1641 and 1697.
The Sanson Family of Mapmakers
The Sanson family, a lineage of gifted geographers and mapmakers, played a crucial role in shaping the course of French cartography from the seventeenth century onward. The Sansons emerged as significant figures during a time when France was beginning to assert its intellectual dominance in the field of geography. The patriarch, Nicolas Sanson (1600-1667), often referred to as the founder of French cartography, initiated the family's legacy and set an impressive precedent for the generations that followed.
Nicolas Sanson, born in Abbeville, was an autodidact in geography. Despite his lack of formal training, his talent and commitment to his craft quickly earned him recognition. He moved to Paris, where he gained patronage from important figures, including Cardinal Richelieu, and in 1627, he started his career by presenting his first set of maps. His body of work, which eventually encompassed hundreds of maps, covered all parts of the world and demonstrated an exceptional level of detail, accuracy, and aesthetic quality. His prominence led to his appointment as Geographer to the King in 1632, a position that would be held by the Sanson family for more than a century.
Sanson's sons, Adrien and Guillaume, and his grandson, also named Nicolas, carried on the family tradition and further expanded on their forebear's groundbreaking work. They updated and reissued many of Nicolas Sanson's maps, and the dynasty's cartographic output continued to be widely appreciated throughout Europe, facilitating the spread of geographic knowledge during an age of exploration and colonial expansion.
Sanson's precise style marked a major turning point in commercial cartography, emphasizing scientifically precise images over decorative embellishment, a trend which would eclipse the map styles popularized during the Golden Age of Dutch Cartography.
Rarity
Most of Sanson folio atlases contain between 34 and 85 maps, while examples with over 120 maps are highly unusual.
Provenance:
William B. Goodwin, a noted Connecticut-based collector of Americana, member of the Walpole Society, graduated from Yale in 1888. Goodwin was the author of The Lure of Gold, the result of his investigations of Spanish remains in Jamaica, Haiti, Georgia, and Florida. He also wrote The Ruins of Great Ireland in New England and The Truth About Leif Erickson and the Greenland Voyages to New England. He amassed a substantial collection of rare books and maps of eastern North America and the Caribbean. Ex-Connecticut Historical Society.
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.