Beschreibung:

DELISLE, Joseph Nicolas (1688-1768). Nouvelles cartes des découvertes de l'amiral de Fonte et autres navigateurs espagnols, portugais . Paris, 1753. The first edition of Delisle’s infamous "imaginary" cartography of the Pacific Northwest, in attractive contemporary decorated wrappers. In 1708 a letter appeared in London’s Monthly Miscellany purporting to be by Bartholomew de Fonte “then admiral of New Spain and Peru, and now Prince of Chile,” describing a voyage through a Northwest passage. Although there is no evidence suggesting such a person (or passage) ever existed, the letter excited the imagination of Europeans hoping for a Western sea route to China. The Delisle family was particularly taken in by the mythical de Fonte, and this book was Joseph Nicolas’s attempt to reconcile de Fonte’s journey with the known geography of North America, based on recent Russian expeditions in Alaska. The maps also present the work of the author’s cartographer brothers Guillaume and Louis—in some cases, publishing theories (such as the Western Sea) which his brothers would not have themselves have committed to publication. Howes D-244; Lada-Mocarski 7; Sabin 35254; Streeter sale 3452; Wickersham 6635. Quarto (250 x 181mm). 4 engraved folding maps (repairs to title page). Contemporary gilt decorated paper wrappers; in slipcase. Provenance : David Parsons (bookplate, his sale, Hordern House).