TABULA EXHIBENS NOVAM FRANCIAM ET LOUISIANAM

by [Hennepin, Louis]:

[30 Day Return Guarantee] Price: $35,000.00

Book Description

[Nuremberg. 1689].. Engraved map, 7 3/4 x 12 3/4 inches. Near fine. Matted and laid into a folding cloth box. The extremely rare German edition of Father Louis Hennepin's landmark map of North America, from his DESCRIPTION DE LA LOUISIANE.... This version of the map was issued with the 1689 Nuremberg edition of Hennepin's work, and the cartouche translated from French into Latin. As in the original, the German map shows the significant new details of the upper headwaters of the Mississippi. By removing the extraneous European continent, the German map focuses solely on North America and even tends to magnify the Great Lakes region. Hennepin's map was the first to use the name Louisiana, and the Atlantic Ocean is called "Mare Canadense." "[It shows] for the first time La Louisiane, Sault de St. Antoine de Padou (on the site of present-day Minneapolis), and Lac de Pleurs [Lake of Tears], present Lake Pepin. A faint dotted line indicating the surmised course of the lower Mississippi River is approximately located" - Schwartz & Ehrenberg. This line is of particular note. As Wheat points out, La Salle and later French cartographers recorded the course of the river as progressing further west, making Hennepin's map remarkably accurate in this regard for its time. As a significant version of one of the best cartographical depictions to that date of the Great Lakes region and the upper Mississippi, it is surprising that this German edition of Hennepin's map has been overlooked by most carto-bibliographers. "An important cartographic stepping stone...[presenting] vast new knowledge" - Wheat. An extremely rare edition of a highly important map of North America. 1683 edition of the map: SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG, p.130. WHEAT TRANSMISSISSIPPI 62. 1689 text and map: EUROPEAN AMERICANA 689/94. HOWES H415. JCB (4):207. HARRISSE NOUVELLE FRANCE 163. SABIN 31364.

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