This uncommon map features an extravagant collection of Northwest Passage theories, including one based on the infamous expedition by Admiral Bartholomew de Fonte. In 1708, a newly discovered account of the Spanish Admiral's 1640 discovery of the passage was published. That account was actually a journalistic hoax, but thereafter the account was changed and elaborated upon by numerous mapmakers. This map shows one Northwest Passage from Baffin Bay to exit at roughly Alaska, and another from the St. Lawrence through the Great Lakes and out via the massive and utterly spurious Sea of the West (Mer ou Baye de l'Ouest). The large fictional lakes from De Fonte's account include Velasco, de Fonte, and the strange archipelago of St. Lazare. In the North Pacific, the routes of the Russian expeditions and the Manilla/Alcapulco galleons are charted. In the South Pacific, the partial coastlines of Australia and New Guinea are shown connected, and both New Zealand and Tasmania are shown as single coastlines. The map is engraved in an unusual and simple style, and titled on a banner style cartouche.

Isaak Brouckner's influential world map was produced on twelve sheets and published as the Nouvel Atlas de Marine in 1749. This was the first Prussian marine atlas prepared under the direction of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin. The Academy's considerable archives were used by Brouckner to compile the map. This map was a principal source of information for late 18th century cartographers, particularly for the depictions of the northwest coast of America. The large 12-sheet map is extremely rare.

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Condition: B+

A dark impression with a 1.5" binding tear at right that has been closed on verso with archival material, and there is one short split at a fold intersection. Minor offsetting.