ALASKA MAP BOUND IN USGS REPORT. Coast & Geodetic Survey. 1895.
General Chart of Alaska. Compiled from United States and Russian Authorities. Imprint: Published May 1895. W. W. Duffield Superintendent…. (Date of first publication 1890.) Upper left: Coast and Geodetic Survey Report for 1894. Upper right: No. 3. Lower right: (Alaska) U. S. C. & G. S. 49 ¾”w x 27”h. Short tear at binding stub. Very good condition. Soundings in fathoms and terrain elevations in feet.

Bound in Report of the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey showing the Progress of the Work during the Fiscal Year ending with June, 1894. Washington: GPO, 1895. 11 1/2"h x 9"w. 2 volumes. Volume 1, 165 pages with 20 folding progress-sketches. Volume 2, 625 pages and 11 full-page or folding maps, charts and photographs of instruments.

CANADA. Wytfliet. 1597.
Conibas Regio cum Vicinis Gentibus. Upper right corner of map: [No.] 15. 8 ½”h x 10 ½”w. Narrow strip on verso of centerfold. Excellent condition.

Published in Cornelis van Wytfliet, Descriptionis Ptolemaicae Augmentum .... (Louvain: printed by Iohannis Bogardi, 1597). Reference Phillips Atlases, 1140, Map 15. The map is iIllustrated in Burden, The Mapping of North America, Map 100. Illustrated in Kershaw, Early Printed Maps of Canada, Entry 39 and Plate 23. Illustrated in Verner & Stubbs, The Northpart of America, Page [85] with technical description on page 249, indicating this copy is State 3.

Verner & Stubbs state: “This map of Conibas is the first map of the interior regions of Canada. There is little here to relate to this area as we know it now since Wytfliet’s map was a product of his imagination.” At the center are the yet-unnamed Hudson Bay and James Bay. At the southern end of the bay is an island on which the city of Conibas is identified. At the right (east) is the Native American settlement of Hochelaga, present-day Montreal. At the bottom center is “Septem civitates” (Seven Cities), referring to Cibola, one name for the Seven Cities of Gold. This legend of the Seven Cities is among the myths that lured Spaniards into the far reaches of northern New Spain (Colonial Mexico) in the 1500s.

CANADA. Delisle. 1703/1718+.
Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des Decouvertes qui y ont ete faites ... Par Guillaume Del'Isle de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et Premier Geographe du Roy. Imprint: A Paris Chez l'Auteur sur le Quai de l'Horlage a l Aigle d Or ... 1703. 19" h x 25" w. Centerfold stain. Some offsetting at centerfold. According to Tooley, in 1708 the imprint was changed to read as above, and in 1718 the words "et Premier Geographe du Roy" were added in the title. These two date this issue of the map at 1718 or later. Tooley #38 on p 20 and pl. 10. Karpinski p 118 and 123. Kershaw 312 (5th State) and pl. 202e. Also, illustrated in Humphreys (1926) 78, (1952) 79 and (1989) 185; and in Schwartz & Ehrenberg pl. 80.

The map extends from the Great Lakes to Baffin Bay. It provides a substantial improvement to the early mapping of the Great Lakes; however, west of the Great Lakes is some imaginary geography. It was the first printed map to show Detroit, founded by the French in 1701.

CANADA. Delisle. 1730.
Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des Decouvertes qui y ont été faites. Dressée sur plusieurs Observations et sur un grand nombre de Relations imprimées ou manuscrites. Par Guillaume Del’Isle Geographe de l’Academie Royale des Sciences. Imprint: A Amsterdam Chez Jean Covens et Corneille Mortier, Geographes Avec Privilege. 19 ½”h x 22 ¾”w. Very good condition. Color.

First issued by Guillaume Delisle (1675-1726) in 1703. This edition was faithfully re-engraved at a slightly smaller scale and published in Atlas Nouveau Contenant Toutes les Parties du Monde... Par Guillaume De l’Isle ... A Amsterdam chez Jean Covens & Corneille Mortier sur le Vygendam MDCCXXX. Reference Phillips Atlases, 3486. The map is illustrated in Kershaw, Early Printed Maps of Canada, Plates 204 and 205 (Second State). Reference Tooley, The Mapping of America, Page 20.

Kershaw calls this map “one of the most outstanding maps of Canada of the 17th and early 18th centuries”. It is a richly detailed map providing the most accurate rendering of the Great Lakes of the time, with the lakes fully enclosed and properly placed in longitude and latitude. Lahontan's fictitious “Riviere longue” and what appears to be “The River of the West” are prominently depicted at the lower left. “Lac de Assenipoils” (now Lake Winnipeg) correctly drains to Hudson Bay. Sanson's erroneous three-island version of Baffin’s Island is prominently shown in the Arctic. The cartouche is decorated with wildlife, Native Americans and Jesuit explorers, centered about the title below the French crown and coat of arms.

NORTHWEST PASSAGE. Delisle. 1752.
Carte des Nouvelles Découvertes au Nord de la Mer du Sud, Tant à l’Est de la Siberie et du Kamtchatka. Qu’à l’Ouest de la Nouvelle France. Dressée Sur les Mémoires de Mr. Del’Isle ... Par Philippe Buache ... et Présentée à l’Academie, dans son Assemblée publique de 8. Avril 1750. Par Mr. De l‘Isle. Lower left: Publiée sous le Privilége de l’Académie des Sciences. Lower right: Se vend à Paris, Quay de l’Horloge du Palais, avec les Cartes de Guill. Delisle et de Phil. Buache. 18”h x 25”w. Outline color. Very good condition.

Map published by Joseph Nicolas Delisle (1688-1768). Published in Atlas Geographique & Universel avec la Geographie Ancienne & Moderne & les details de la France. (Paris: Delisle and Buache, 1762). Illustrated in Schwartz & Ehrenberg, The Mapping of America, Plate 94. Reference Tooley, The Mapping of America, Map 101 on page 34. The title is above center in a rococo cartouche flanked by a native of Kamchatka in the upper left corner and a native of Louisiana in the upper right corner.

Joseph Nicolas Delisle spent much of his career in Russia (from 1725 to 1747), producing the Atlas Russicus, the first Russian atlas. Published in St. Petersburg, Russia, by Delisle in 1745. Reference Phillips Atlases 4059 and 4060. He returned to Paris from Russia in 1747 with a large map collection, including (unfortunately for the reputation of French cartography) the manuscript of this map of the North Pacific. According to the map title shown above, he presented the map to a public assembly of the French Académie des Sciences April 8, 1750.

This is a chart of the new discoveries to the north of the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) as well in eastern Siberia, the Kamchatka Peninsula and the west of Canada. It is drawn on a spherical projection and depicts the discoveries of the Russians in 1723, 1732 and 1741, the tracks of Bering's first and second voyages, Louis Delisle de la Croyére’s voyage with Capt. Tchirikow in 1741, the track of De Frondat's voyage of 1709, and the route of the Galleons in 1743. The northwest of North America shows the imaginary cartographic theories of Philippe Buache (1700-1773) here for the first time on a printed map. His theory was there must be a water route from Europe to the west above Canada and to the Orient. The map shows a network of rivers and lakes making up most of a Northwest Passage derived from the apochryphal discoveries of Spanish Admiral Bartholome de Fonte in 1640. The west coast of North America is entirely fictitious north of “Cap Blanc” with the vast inland sea “Mer ou Baye de l’Ouest” shown for the first time on a map. Alaska is essentially unrecognizable, with a very large “Lac de Valasco” dominating the area where Alaska and Yukon Territory would one day be identified. However, this map precedes discoveries by Captain Cook.