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 sheet has five depictions of California that present a fascinating cartographic history of the region. It was one of ten maps compiled by Robert de Vaugondy for Diderot's important encyclopedia and depicts the mapping of California by five important cartographers. The earliest map reproduces Neron Pecci's manuscript map of 1604 showing the peninsula with a ragged coastline and place names derived from Cabrillo's voyage of 1542-3. The second map is a detail from Sanson's 1656 map showing the island of California with place names from the voyage of Vizcaino. Map three is from Delisle's map of America of 1700 with the question of California's insularity left open to interpretation. Next is Fra. Eusebio Kino's important map of 1705 that finally ended that cartographic myth. It is based on his overland expedition from the mainland to the Sea of Cortez. Finally, map five is a portion of a Spanish map, showing the Jesuit explorations, that first appeared in Miguel Venegas' Noticia de la California in 1757, which is the first published history of California. This is an essential map for any California map collection.

References: McLaughlin #241; Fite & Freeman #52; Heckrotte & Sweetkind #15; Pedley #474.

Condition: A

Issued folding on watermarked paper with wide margins and faint toning along one fold at top left (which appears a bit darker in the image than in person).