Attractive example of Coronelli’s rare world map, published by Nolin

Description

This highly decorative map of the world is the outcome of a close cooperation between Vincenzo Coronelli and Jean Nicolas du Tralage (also known as Sieur de Tillemont), a French geographer and cartographer. Its outstanding feature are the eight small maps surrounding the main double hemisphere.

The map’s geography closely follows that of Coronelli’s 1688 large-scale terrestrial globe. In particular, the map includes the following notable features:

• The coastline of northwest North America is not yet defined.
• At its westernmost point, North America features Terre de Jesso – a likely misinterpretation of Dutch explorer De Vries’ account of Hokkaido, then named Ezo.
• Below Terre de Jesso, Terre de la Compagnie appears – a mapping mistake that resulted from misunderstanding and amalgamation of early Dutch explorers’ information pertaining to the coastlines of Sakhalin, the Kurils, and Hokkaido.
• To the west of Terre de Jesso, the Vries Strait (Detroit de Vriez) is misplaced and suggesting the possibility of a northwest passage.
• To the east of Terre de Jesso, the semi-mythical Strait of Anián (Detroit d' Anian) is mentioned, alluding to another possible northwest passage.
• California is shown as an island.
• Greenland and the Arctic are attached to North America, seemingly negating the possibility of a northwest passage, despite the presence of the straits of Vries and Anián.
• The Great Lakes are starting to take shape.
• Among other, along the eastern coastline of North America are mentioned: Quebec, New England (N[ouvelle]. Angleterre), New York (Nouv[elle]. Yorck), Virginia (La Virginie), Carolina (Caroline), and Florida (La Floride).
• Numerous Native North American peoples are named throughout, including Attiquameches (Atikamekw), Iroquois, and Nadonessious (Sioux).
• In central South America, Lake Xarayes (L[ago] de los Xaraies) is shown – one of the presumed gateways to El Dorado.
• The southern coastline of Tierra del Fuego is incomplete.
• In the South Pacific, an annotation in French states that “The western continent or America is also called the New World and the West Indies; some of the Ancients knew it as the Atlantic Isle, or Atlantis Insula.”
• In the South Pacific, the Solomon Islands (Isles de Salomon) appear.
• Northeastern Australia erroneously includes Terre Australe du Saint Esprit, i.e. "Southern Land of the Holy Spirit", which, in 1606, is what Portuguese-Spanish explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós called what is present-day Vanuatu, believing he had discovered Terra Australis Incognita.
• Australia is shown (in the Eastern Hemisphere) as New Holland (Nouvelle Hollande) and with most of its eastern and part of the southern coastlines still missing (as seen in the Western Hemisphere).
• Similarly, only the southern part of Tasmania (Pays de Diemens) is depicted.
• There is a second appearance of Pays de Diements [sic], in northern Australia.
• New Zealand (Nouvelle Zeelande) is hinted at, with a small stretch of western coastline. There is no suggestion as to the existence of two separate islands.
• Towards the Antarctic Circle, there is a conjectured incomplete coastline suggesting a possible outline of the fabled “Unknown Southern Land”, here labelled in French “Southern and unknown lands or Antarctica”.
• In the Eastern Hemisphere, the prime meridian is shown as going through El Hierro (Ferro).
• In the Arctic, there are incomplete coastlines for Spitsbergen/Svalbard.
• Novaya Zemlya appears attached to the mainland.
• Inland Africa presents with numerous speculative placenames.
• Northeast Asia shows a conjectured coastline.
• The Great Wall of China is depicted.
• The cartographic myth of Lake Chimay (Lac Chiamai) is shown.

Of the eight small maps surrounding the main double hemisphere, the top five depict, from left to right:

• a Paris-centred hemispheric projection
• the world on an oval projection
• the Northern Hemisphere on a circular projection, centred on the North Pole
• the world in the western perception prior to first European sightings and explorations of the East and West Indies
• an antipodean hemispheric projection to the one centred on Paris.

The bottom three maps show, from left to right:

• the world on a circular projection, centred on the North Pole
• the Southern Hemisphere on a circular projection, centred on the South Pole
• the world on a cordiform projection.

The two small charts positioned between the three bottom-row maps are wind directional figures. The left one of these names the “32 winds of the ocean”, while the right one presents the “32 winds of the Mediterranean”.

According to Shirley, at least four states of this map exist. The first was published by Jean-Baptiste Nolin in 1690 in Paris, with the date included in the title and areas between the two hemispheres at the center left blank. The second state (this example) removes the date in the title and adds at the centre the dedication and coat of arms of Louis Philippeaux de Pontchartrin, Chancellor of France. One of the remaining states (from 1742) is with a changed address, reintroduced date, and removed dedication and coat of arms.

Noted by Shirley as rare.

A beautiful, scarce map of the world with plenty of detail to discover.

Condition

Good.

Issued folding, now flattened. Coloured throughout. Professionally cleaned and strengthened, with minor spots, mostly contained to blank margins, remaining. Professional repairs to two small areas of paper damage at upper left and right (contained to blank margin), to a tear (3.5 cm / 1.4 in, reaching into image) and associated small area of paper damage at lower right, to centrefold and horizontal fold (on verso, with minor corrections in manuscript on recto), and to some small tears along edges. All repairs inconspicuous.

Reference

Shirley #546

Item #: 00696

US $3,200.00

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