CORONELLI, Vincenzo Maria (1650-1718)

Canada Orientale nell' America Settentrionale Descritta.

Venice: V.M. Coronelli [circa, 1695]. Copper-engraved map. Sheet size: 19 1/2 x 28 1/4 inches.

Important 17th century mapping of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli, a Venetian scholar and Minorite Friar, became one of the most celebrated map and globe makers of his era. Throughout his industrious life he produced more than one-hundred terrestrial and celestial globes, several hundred maps, and a wealth of cartographic publications. In 1683, he completed the Marly Globes for Louis XIV, the largest and most magnificent globes ever made. In 1684 he founded the Academia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, the first geographical society, and was appointed Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice. He published two atlases, the Atlante Veneto (Venice, 1691) and the Isolario (1696-98), and compiled the first encyclopedia to be arranged alphabetically. This fine map of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, with parts of Labrador and Nova Scotia, appeared in the 1692-94 Corso Geografico and in the second edition of Atlante Veneto 1695-1697. The map closely follows Coronelli and Nolin's 1689 mapping of Canada and the American coast, though is more focussed on the Newfoundland and Gulf of St. Lawrence region. Derived from manuscript and printed sources, the map is remarkably accurate for its time. As with many of Coronelli's charts, elaborate cartouches provide decorative touches. Text concerning the Grand Banks appears at the bottom of the map, along with a note off the northeastern shore of Newfoundland concerning Cabot's discoveries. The attractive cartouche surrounded by fish alludes to the main industry of the region. Coronelli includes an elaborate depiction of the Grand Banks in great detail.

Burden, The Mapping of North America II:698; Kershaw, Early Printed Maps of Canada 162.

Item #41986

Price: $2,000.00