The Encyclopedie was published under the direction of Diderot from 1751 onward with thousands of articles written by the most prominent philosophers and scientists of the time. These great minds collaborated in the goal of assembling and disseminating the fruits of accumulated knowledge and learning. This massive reference work for the arts and sciences, served to propagate Enlightened ideas. Read a full description of this work and Diderot at Wikipedia.com.

This is the second state of a fascinating group of four maps on one sheet illustrate the cartography of Sanson in 1750, Delisle in 1700 and 1703 and that of the famous Arctic explorer Henry Ellis in his quest for a Northwest Passage via Hudson Bay in 1746-47. All of the maps depict the Hudson and Baffin Bay region, showing the development of the region's cartography between 1650 and 1747.

References: Kershaw #477; Pedley #24.

Condition: B+

A nice impression issued folding, now flat, on watermarked paper with an archivally repaired binding tear that enters less than 0.5" into the image at left, faint offsetting, and a tiny, unobtrusive hole at a fold intersection. The sheet has been remargined at left with old paper.