A double-hemisphere world wall map, with the title in French and Spanish, with the Western Hemisphere held aloft by Atlas, the Eastern by Hercules. The borders, 175mm wide at the sides and 160mm at the bottom, contain twenty vignette scenes from the Old Testament, all in full colour, with short texts in French and Spanish. Around the map are nine astronomical diagrams.
The cartography includes a measure of fallacy and anomaly: in North America the 'Mer de l'Ouest is shown, as is the North West Passage of de Fonte; and despite Hawaii being marked as the place of Captain Cook's death (erroneously dated '17 Fevr. 1778' instead of 14th Feb 1779), the map has not been corrected to show the discoveries made by Cook in the decade before his death. Thus New Zealand is a partial outline, although circumnavigated 1770-1 and Australia is still connected to Tasmania and Espirito Santo.
Considering the size of the map some restoration is inevitable. Surviving copies are rare.
Additional information
Dimensions | 1230 × 970 mm |
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Cartographer | |
Date | 1788 |
Extra Info | Carte General de la Terre ou Mappe Monde Avec Les Quatre Principeaux Sistemes. |
Publication | Paris & Cadiz, Louis Joseph Mondhare, 1788. Coloured. Four sheets conjoined, total 970 x 1230mm. |
Condition | A good example. |
References | – |