Price: £1,600.00
Full title: INTRODUCTION A LA GEOGRAPHIE - AVEC UNE DESCRIPTION HISTORIQUE SUR TOUTES LES PARTIES DE LA TERRE Par N. DE FER Geographe de sa Majesté Catholique. A Paris chez le Sieur DANET, gendre de l'auteur... Published in 1717, this is the second edition of this French geography book, although it is the first edition to have the following maps included: MAPPE-MONDE OU CARTE GENERALE DE LA TERRE: the famous double hemisphere worldmap, prepared by de l'Isle, with portraits of Père Tachard SJ, de la Salle, Dampier, Magellan, Drake, Columbus, Vespucci, Marco Polo and Schouten. A rare and extremely well engraved work. L'AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE ET MERIDIONALE: A graceful and intricate map of the American hemisphere with an excellent “Isle de Californie”. Coverage extends to New Zealand and the African and European Atlantic coasts. L'AFRIQUE: Very handsome chart of the continent filled with notes in French concerning exploration. The map has a curious bulge in the west coast between the Cape and the Congo and False Bay is missing, but Robben Island is noted, Monomotapa is shown in the south, and the mythical second island of St. Helena is shown. In Central Africa there is a long paragraph concerning the origin of the Nile. At the bottom are a large dedication cartouche and scenic title cartouche. L'ASIE: This decorative map shows all of Asia with many notes in French. In the upper right, under the title cartouche, eastern Siberia is the subject of much uncertainty. There is a very faint stain in the East Indies. L'EUROPE: An interesting and well engraved chart of the continent with many decorative features. Of interest is the placement of Iceland above Scotland. All maps are dated 1717, with little tears at the horizontal fold, as is common with fold-out maps, otherwise they are in excellent condition on bright paper. Also included is a plate entitled La SPHERE ARTIFICIELLE with an armillary sphere, a terrestrial and a celestial globe and the title page has a small worldmap The book is Octavo size with a contemporary binding. There is a little lack of leather at the gilt spine but all 197 printed and other blank pages are present. Seven pages are not numbered: "Longitudes et Latitudes...", and a two page "Catalogue des ouvrages de Geographie que l'Auteur a mis au jour jusques en l'année 1716''. Overall in very good condition and printed on strong paper.
ANTIQUE MAPS (1165)
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