CHATELAIN, HENRI ABRAHAM

Carte Tres Curieuse De La Mer Du Sud Contenant Des Remarques Nouvelles Et Tres Utiles Non Seulement Sur Les Ports et Isles de Cette Mer, Mais aussy sur les principaux Pays de l'Amerique tant Septentrionale que Meridionale, Avec les Noms & la Route des Voyageurs... Amsterdam: 1720. 32 x 56 inches (81 x 142 cm); engraved map with hand-coloring (possibly of the period) on four conjoined sheets. Usual folds, in generally excellent condition, not examined out of frame.

This uncommonly richly colored four-sheet map, published just before the bursting of the South Sea Bubble, would have been extracted from the sixth volume of Chatelain's opus work, the Atlas Historique, ou Nouvelle Introduction à l'Histoire, à la Chronologie & à la Géographie Ancienne & Moderne, published in Amsterdam, the text of which was by the French geographer Nicolas Gueudeville. Depicting the area from eastern Asia to western Europe, centered on the Americas, this cartographic masterpiece bears more than 35 insets and vignettes of various scenes and regions in the New World. A series of medallions at the upper center depicts some of the most important New World explorers, while their voyages are shown on the body of the map. Other marginal vignettes depict areas of significance, including city views. California is shown as an island, although it bears a notation stating that some authorities believe it to be part of the mainland, an early sign of skepticism towards the traditional geographic representation of the region. Schwartz & Ehrenberg, pp. 142, 146-147; Tooley p. 130.