DE L'ISLE, Guillaume (1675-1726)

Carte de L'Isle de Saint Domingue. Dressée en 1722 pour l'usage du Roy Sur les memoires de Mr. Frezier Ingenieur de S. M.... Insulæ S. Dominicæ Tabula Accuratissima

Paris: Chez l'Auteur sur le Quay de l'Horloge, circa 1730. Engraved with period outline colour. In superb condition with the exception of a faint waterstain along the top of the central crease. 18 3/8 x 24 5/8 inches. Sheet size: 19 7/8 x 26 1/2 inches. Plate mark: 18 3/4 x 24 7/8 inches.

An important early map of the island of Hispaniola, by the celebrated French cartographer, Guillaume de L'Isle.

Guillaume de l'Isle (1675-1726) was the 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. Considered one of De L'Isle's finest maps, the chart depicts Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Spanish never settled the entire island, though nominally it was theirs, and French buccaneers who had established strongholds along the western coasts were later joined by French planters, who wrestled away the western part from the Spanish officially in 1697 to form Saint Domingue. There through the hard work of African slaves, they established sugar plantations and refineries. The sugar industry was still in its youth when this map was first issued by De l'Isle. The political alignments changed radically several times before the present-day division was established.

Moreland and Bannister, Antique Maps p. 132; Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers, 395.

Item #17079

Price: $500.00