DE L'ISLE, Guillaume (1675-1726)

Cartes Des Courones Du Nord Qui Comprend les Royaumes de Danemark, Suede & Nowege, &c./ Téatre de la Guerre des Courones du nord Qui Comprend les Royaumes de Danemark, Suede & Norwege &c. [and] Seconde Carte des Courones du Nord, que Comprend le Royaume de Danemark &c.

Amsterdam: Covens & Mortier, [1742]. A pair of copper-engraved maps, with original outline colour, collection stamp on verso of both sheets, overall very good condition. Sheet size: 21 1/2 x 25 3/4 inches each.

A superb, large scale two sheet map of Scandinavia, by one of France's greatest cartographers, made at the time of the Northern War

The war referred to in the title was the Northern War in which Sweden, under the young Charles XII was opposed by Russia, under Peter the Great, Poland and Saxony under Augustus II, and Denmark. The first ten years of the war, 1699-1709, went extremely well for Charles and Sweden, but from then to peace in 1721 quite badly: Charles was killed in the trenches in 1718, and Sweden was notably diminished in power, prestige and territory. This is a two part map from a Dutch edition of De L'Isle's work entitled, Atlas Nouveau, Contenant Toutes Les Parties Du Monde, Ou sont exactement Remarquées les Empires, Monarchies, Royaumes, Etats, Republiques &c. Par Guillaume de l'Isle. Premier Géographe de sa Majesté. It was published by Covens and Mortier, brothers-in-law who continued the firm established by Pierre Mortier. Guillaume de l'Isle (1675-1726) was son of a cartographer and a pupil of Jean Dominique Cassini, who among other important contributions, aligned the study of astronomy to the study of geography. Under Cassini's direction, observations were made from locations all over the world that enabled longitudinal calculations to be made with much greater accuracy. De l'Isle carried on this exacting work with remarkable dedication and integrity, constantly revising and improving his maps. While precision was his primary goal, his maps are invariably elegant and attractive. The southern half of this very detailed and attractive map includes all the land surrounding the Baltic with "Petersbourg" at the very eastern edge that appears to have been added as an afterthought.

Koeman, Atlantes Neerlandici, C & M 7, #11 & 12.

Item #11501

Price: $750.00