"Partie de la Haute Aethiopie ou sont l'Empire des Abissins et la Nubie &c...", Sanson, Nicolas

This uncommon map focuses on the mythical Ptolemaic twin lakes of Zaire and Zaflan. The large lakes, purported to be the source of the Nile, were thought to be located at the foot of the mythical Lunae Montes, or Mountains of the Moon, often identified as the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda. The map is filled with fictitious place names and topography, all meticulously detailed and engraved by Antoine d'Winter.

Sanson's small maps from his L'Afrique en Plusieurs Cartes..., first published in 1656 and engraved by A. Peyrounin, were copied several times by various map publishers. Johann David Zunners made copies of Sanson's maps for his German translation of Die Gantze Erd-Kugel in 1679. Johannes Ribbius and Simon de Vries published copies in 1682 and 1683, with new maps engraved by Antoine d'Winter. The plates were later sold to Francois Halma, who used them in 1699 and then again in 1705 with the titles re-engraved in Dutch. The titles on the d'Winter plates were re-engraved back into French, and then used by Nicholas Chemereau in 1715 and by Henri du Sauzet in 1738.

References: Pastoureau, SANSON I F [11].

Condition: A

A nice impression, issued folding, now flat. A binding trim at bottom left has been replaced with old paper, and two short associated tears that enter map border have been archivally repaired.