Superb Map of the Caspian Sea with Panoramic Views of the Region

"[On 2 Sheets] Carte Marine de la Mer Caspiene Levee Suivant les Ordres de S.M. Czariene, par Mr. Carl Vanverden en 1719, 1720, et 1721...", Ottens

This beautifully engraved two-sheet map of the Caspian Sea was copied from Delisle's map of 1723, however Reinier Ottens has added four panoramic views of the region. The superb views depict the cities of Astrakhan, Derbent (from two different perspectives), and Tercki. Delisle's map was based on the surveys of Karl van Verden from 1719-21. The Caspian Sea remained a mystery through much of cartographic history. It was originally thought to be a huge gulf in the northern ocean and was not recognized as a landlocked sea until the late medieval period. It was then presented in a variety of shapes and sizes, nearly always on an east-west axis. It was not accurately mapped until the early 18th century when the surveys of Karl van Verden were commissioned by Russia. In 1721, Peter the Great presented the French Academy a copy of the recently completed map by S.I. Soimonov and Karl van Verden. Delisle copied (in a reduced size) the original map with great care, translated the inscriptions into French, and printed it on two sheets for publication in the Academy's Bibliographie Générale des Travaux Historiques... and in his own atlases.

The two sheets are beautifully engraved with relief along the shoreline shown pictorially. The northern sheet includes three inset maps and is attractively embellished with two cartouches, one bedecked with dragons. The southern sheet includes three insets of river mouths on the Persian coast and two insets of gulfs on the coast of what is now Turkmenistan.

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Condition: A

Sharp impressions with full contemporary color on bright sheets. There are a few minor spots of foxing on the southern sheet. The first image is a composite image - the map is on two separate sheets.