Phillipe Buache after Guillaume Delisle, Carte De La Louisiane Et Du Cours Du Mississipi, 1718 [1745]

A Seminal Map for Americana Collectors

This is the updated version of Delisle’s influential map of the French possession of Louisiana that drew together the cartographic work of the previous half century and had a tremendous impact on the history of cartography.

Originally published in 1718, the map was widely copied. It was the first detailed map of the Gulf region and the Mississippi, and the first to show the explorations of De Soto, Cavelier, Tonty, Moscoso, and Denis. The map was designed for the political purpose of invalidating the English claims west of the Appalachian Mountains and laid claim to Carolina by the French, which provoked an angry English response. It included the best depiction of the Mississippi Valley system and the first printed map to show Texas with the legendary Mission de los Teijas, established in 1716. The notation of Indiens errans et anthrophages along the Gulf Coast warns of cannibals. An inset of the Mississippi Delta and Mobile Bay fills the lower right corner. This is the Buache edition, which is a reissue of the second state of the original plate, showing the settlement of New Orleans, founded in 1718.

Delisle’s maps had an immense impact on the history of cartography, and none more so than this map. It was based on years of research, using all the latest reports of travels, explorations and surveys in the region. Delisle was particularly well placed with respect to gathering information on North America, using De L’Isle’s connections in the French Court to access the best available published and unpublished accounts and maps of the New World. As noted in Cohen:

A significant map in Western American history and a work by one of the greatest mapmakers of all time. The map revealed for the first time the importance of the Missouri River and gave the most accurate delineation of the Mississippi Valley up to that time… [Delisle’s] passion for pure scientific accuracy is reflected on his maps. If geographic information had not been directly observed by a reliable source, he refused to acknowledge it. Many longstanding myths and errors that had been passed from mapmaker to mapmaker for generations were suddenly absent on Delisle’s maps.