A decorative 17th century Italian map of North America

A large and highly decorative two-sheet map of North America, with two elaborate cartouches and many vignettes from de Bry engraved in the interior and seas. Despite showing California as an island and the map contains the most current information: as map-maker to Louis XIV, Coronelli had access to the most recent reports by French explorers, including Marquette (1673) and La Salle (1682). Cumming notes that 'his delineation of the Great Lakes is the best and most accurate on a general map before the eighteenth century'. Superior still has the French name, 'Lac Tracy', for soldier Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy, who was Lieutenant Général of the Americas. from 1664-7.