This decorative map of the Iberian peninsula brings together three important names that were involved in the Parisian map publishing trade in the seventeenth century. It was drawn by Nicolas Sanson, Geographe Ordinaire du Roi, engraved by Melchior Tavernier, and published in conjunction with Pierre Mariette. (Read our article on the complicated relationship between Sanson and Mariette here.) The map includes the Balearic Islands and is decorative with a fine cartouche featuring the heralds of the various regions.

This is the very rare first state, dated 1641 yet also including Sanson's Privilege du Roy 20 a[ns]. In 1647, Sanson was granted a privilege giving his authorship protection for 20 years. Unfortunately his works were heavily plagiarized and his privilege was not easily enforceable. This map was likely prepared by Tavernier in 1641, as the date suggests, since Sanson and Tavernier's relationship dissolved around the time that Sanson moved to Paris in 1640. However due to the appearance of Sanson's privilege on the map, it probably didn't appear on the market until 1647-48, when it would have been sold as a single sheet or within composite atlases. Once this map appeared in the first edition of Sanson's Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde… it bore a re-engraved date of 1658.

References: Pastoureau, SANSON V A [66].

Condition: B+

Original outline color with later color in the cartouches on watermarked paper. There is minor soiling, a couple of printer's creases, light toning along the centerfold, and faint damp stains at bottom.