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Antique maps > america > north america > Antique map of North America by Coronelli V.M. (1650-1718

America Settentrionale Colle Nuove Scoperte sin all' Anno 1688 ... - Coronelli V.M. (1650-1718), 1691.



Map of North America, on two sheets, not joined, oriented to the North. Insular California

Copper engraving
Size (for each sheet): 61 x 45cm (23.8 x 17.6 inches)
Verso: Blank
Condition: Excellent.
Condition Rating: A
References: Shirley (Brit.Lib.), T.CORO-7a, 12,13.

From: Atlante Veneto, nel quale si contiene la descrittione... degl' Imperii, Regni, Provincie, e Stati dell' Universo. Venice: Girolamo Albrizzi, 1691. Shirley (Brit.Lib.), T.CORO-7a

This map bears the same cartography as Coronelli's printed globe. It is dated 1688 but their priority is unknown. It is possible that the map was made available before its inclusion in the first volume of the Atlante Veneto. Its privilege is dated 24 April 1687 but is actually 1690 on the title page. However, both the dedication and the last colophon are dated 1691. It provided a major leap in the cartography of the day, much of it provided through his tremendous connections in France. The whole is aesthetically delightful, providing a perfect balance between the provision of scientific accuracy and beauty. There are three changes in cartography from that perceived at the time, two of which were advances. First, the Great Lakes are depicted in their most accurate form yet although possibly pre-dated by the Coronelli-Nolin, c.1687, Partie Occidentale ... They are the finest portrayal since Nicolas Sanson's Amerique Septentrionale, 1650, only requiring a little improvement in Lakes Michigan and Huron. Careful study of the voyages of Louis Jolliet, Jacques Marquette and Louis Hennepin, and discussions with others in Parisian circles, helped in this regard. Lake Frontenac (Ontario) is named after the contemporaneous Governor of New France. To the south the R. Ouabach and R. Ohio, o' la Belle Riviere are correctly indicated as two separate rivers, despite wrongly placing the mouth of the Wabash in the Mississippi River rather than the Ohio. Cartographers would often confuse them with one another in the ensuing decades.
A second improvement also possibly found its outlet in a Coronelli-Nolin production, this time the LE NOUVEAU MEXIQUE, c.1687. A major influence of the map is its depiction of the Rio Grande discharging into the Gulf of Mexico and not the Gulf of California. Previous cartographers had depicted it, Giovanni Battista Nicolosi being the first in 1660, but it was Coronelli's credibility which persuaded the cartographic community to change. Above el Passo appears the important legend il Rio del Nort Sbocca nel Golfo del Mexico, non nel Mare di California. From this point the river turns not south west to the Gulf of California, but south-east under the name of the Rio Brauo to the Gulf of Mexico, arriving just a little south of its true position.
The next most notable feature of the map is not one of its finest achievements, but certainly had enormous influence on cartographers of the day. This is the misplacing of the mouth of the Mississippi River some 600 miles too far west. ...... Coronelli, probably mindful of La Salle's experiences in 1682, depicted the Mississippi still flowing in a southerly direction. He achieves the same result at its mouth by distorting the relative positions of the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the fact that results of La Salle's ill-fated return werre carried to France by his brother, Cavelier La Salle, no recognition of it appears on the map.
...
On the map New England bears a curious peninsula along its southern coast and California is depicted as an island in the usual Foxe form of 1635. A notable addition is of a mountain range along the latter's eastern shore. Coronelli is not entirely convinced of its insularity questioning it in a nearby ornately decorated legend. He identifies the Spanish exploration of the coast in the 1530s and 1540s. The map is strewn with legends of explorers' travels and scenes of native life. It is dedicated to Archbishop Marsili of Bologna who was a member of the Jesuit Society. The cartouche is finished with depictions drawn from twe works of Theodore de Bry. The finished map was not improved upon until the publication of Guillaume De L'Isle's L'Amerique Septentrional in 1700. Its influence on other cartographers of the day was considerable. (Burden)

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Item number: 23183
Price: 9000 Euro

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