Subject: Western Africa
Period: 1655 (dated)
Publication: Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde…
Color: Hand Color
Size:
21.8 x 13.6 inches
55.4 x 34.5 cm
Handsome map of Western Africa filled with information, much of it spurious, in the Sahara Desert, the Niger River and the coast of Guinea. Of particular interest are several incomplete rivers in the desert regions that appear and then disappear. The map is beautifully engraved by Jean Sommer with a title cartouche fashioned in the form of an oriental carpet. This is a very unique example published by Sanson subsequent to the dissolution of Sanson and Pierre Mariette's partnership. Mariette's imprint has been erased and replaced with "Chez l'Autheur," although the erasures are still visible.
References: Pastoureau, SANSON V A.
Condition: A
A crisp impression on a bright sheet with a large coat of arms watermark.