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Description

Antique World Map on a double hemispheric polar projection

Rare map of the World on a polar projection, showing a contemporary knowledge of the Polar latitudes, including the routes of Abel Tasman, James Cook, Edmund Halley, and Furneaux and Marion in the South Polar Regions. The map is derived from works on the French Exploration of the South Pacific issued after 1773. The treatment of the NW Coast of America also reflects the information derived from Russian explorers in the mid-18th Century.

This map is from the Comte de Buffon's Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière. Specifically, it occurs at the end of Vol. 5 of the 7-volume Supplement a l'Histoire Naturelle, published in Paris in 1778.

Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon was a French naturalist in charge of the French royal natural history collection for much of the 18th Century. The principal product of Buffon's scientific and literary labors, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, was a work of vast magnitude (44 volumes total) and exceptional influence, the first volumes of which appeared in 1749; the set was completed posthumously in 1804. Buffon (1707 -1788) is best remembered for this work of great scientific importance which influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Charles Darwin.

Reference
Kershaw #454. Jeremy Pool.