L'Amerique Septentrionale

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IdentifierMaps_93aDate1730DescriptionA late issue of a foundation map of North America. De L'Isle was the most illustrious and privileged French cartographer during the age when the nation's explorers led all others in contributing to the geographical knowledge of North America. As a result, virtually all of his maps of America were innovative and influential.

This was De L'Isle's first map relating to North America, and it has been widely acclaimed as the earliest map to show the results of Iberville's discoveries and explorations. This state previously was assumed to be the original printing, but in mid-1981 there was discovered a formerly unknown state of the map, which exhibits a more primitive, pre-Iberville geography identical to that on De L'Isle's globe of 1700 (see Stevenson, Terrestrial and Celestial Globes, vol. 2, fig. 118; Delanglez, "Documents" pp. 278-79). The plate from which this newly recognized first state was printed was revised shortly after Iberville's return from America in the summer of 1700, so that the second state (Tooley's first issue) shows the results of Iberville's first and second voyages. Both the first state and the second state bear De L'Isle's "Rue des Canettes" address, and all issues preserve the date 1700.

The familiar second state is the earliest map to abandon the old Franquelin-type geography, which had located the mouth of the Mississippi on the south Texas coast. Thus, Texas geography begins to assume a comprehensible form for the first time. There is no sign of Galveston Bay, but a number of Texas rivers, including the Brazos ("La Maligne R.") are identifiable.

This late issue, published in Amsterdam about 1730, preserves the geography of the revised second state, but the publishers have rearranged the map's decorative elements. Language NoteFrenchSubjectNorth America--MapsCopyright StatementNo Copyright – Non-Commercial Use OnlySize45x58 centimeters.CartographerGuillaume de L'Isle

CollectionRosenberg Library map collection

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L'Amerique Septentrionale