This is an uncommon and fascinating map of the world in two hemispheres. The map shows a large Mer de l'Ouest (Sea of the West) and one potential Northwest Passage in the Pacific Northwest. There are only a few place names in the interior of North America, including Santa Fe, Quebec, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Charleston, St. Augustine, and New Orleans, and Lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are interconnected. The continent is divided into French and Spanish colonies and the young United States, which is confined to a narrow sliver of land along the East Coast. The map shows typical cartography for a map of this time period, with Australia still attached to Tasmania, with news of the discovery of Bass Strait in 1799 not yet having reached Europe. In the North Pacific Ocean, some spurious islands northeast of Japan are labeled T. de la Compagnie (Company's Land). The map is surrounded by a lovely rococo title cartouche and numerous spheres, including diagrams of the solar system based on Copernicus, Ptolemy, Brahe, and Descartes, an armillary sphere, a wind rose, and diagrams of longitude, latitude, and climatic zones, among others. This is the third state, dated "An 8." Published in Paris by Jean.

References: McGuirk #195.

Condition: B

A nice impression on a sheet with the watermark of rosary beads, light soiling, and several dampstains. This example was folded and has professional repairs to some separations and holes along the folds, with a minor amount of the image replaced in facsimile at the intersection of the hemispheres. A few chips along the edges of the sheet have also been professionally repaired.