Nicholas Sanson d’Abbeville (1600-1667). Amerique Septentrionale . . . 1650. (Paris: Chez Pierre Mariette, 1650). State 2 of the map (the first obtainable state). Copperplate engraving with fine outline color. 15 ¼ x 21 ¾ in. at neat line with full margins. Minor wrinkling. Overall, an excellent example. $4,000.
$4,000.00
One of the most interesting and important American maps of the 17th century.
Sanson’s 1650 map of North America and 1656 map of New Mexico seem to the present writer by far the most interesting and important maps—so far as what is now western United States is concerned—that had appeared since Enrico Martínez drew his little ‘sketch’ of Oñate’s route to Quivira in 1602—and this despite their manifest deficiencies and their retention of much of the older mythical geography. — Carl I. Wheat
In the 17th century, the French established a significant presence in the North American interior which resulted in a corresponding supremacy within the field of cartography. This highly influential map achieved many firsts: it properly showed the Great Lakes in recognizable form, named Lakes Superior and Ontario, located Santa Fe and Taos, and identified the domains of the Apache and Navajo. Additionally, the map hints at a Northwest Passage near the western extent of both Hudson and Baffin’s bays, with a magnificent baroque title cartouche, featuring swags and ribbons.
On the east coast “N[ouvelle] Amsterdam” appears (New York), as does the first appearance on a printed map of “N[ouvelle] Suede,” the Swedish colony centered on Fort Christina, founded on present-day Wilmington, Delaware in 1638. California is shown as a large island, based largely on Johannes de Laet’s map of 1630. The region in the north called “Conibas” represents a mythical land between North America and Asia.
Sanson is regarded as the founder of the ‘French School’ of cartography. His map of North America was the most advanced depiction of the continent in the mid-17th Century and was the source map for most subsequent maps for the next 40 years.
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