L’America settentrionale nuovamente corretta, et accresciuta secondo le relationi più moderne da Guglielmo Sansone

Cartographer(s): Giacomo Giovanni de Rossi
Date: 1677
Place: Rome
Dimensions: 53.5 x 39 cm (21 x 15.4 in)
Condition Rating: VG

Out of stock

Spectacular old color Italian edition of Sanson’s seminal map of North America.

Details

First edition (distinguished from later editions by the date, which is changed to 1687 in later editions) of Rossi’s map of North America, based upon Sanson’s important map, but with revised Italian nomenclature. Burden notes: “This map is derived from Guillaume Sanson’s similar map of 1669, itself drawn from his father Nicolas Sanson’s wall map of 1666. It included the few additions to Guillaume’s map such as Iceland, the British Isles and the recurrence of C Blanco on the Californian coastline. The island of California is depicted in the Foxe form of 1635.”

California is depicted as an island; McLaughlin notes: “California with indented northern coast, with nothing to west and Agubela de Cato to north.” Among the place names are C. de Mendocino, Pta. de los Reyes, Pta. de Monte Rey, Pta. de Francisco Draco (south of Pta de Monte Rey), Canal de S. Barbara, I. de S. Catalina, P. de S. Diego, etc. In the southwest, there is a large lake near Taosii, with R. de Norte flowing southwest from it to the Mar Rosso.

The map features an early open-ended Great Lakes (one of the earliest appearances of the 5 Great Lakes) and a mis-located pre-La Salle/Jolliet/Hennepin projection of the Mississippi River, pushed well west of its true location and quite speculative in its course. Nice detail in the Spanish Southwest along the Rio Grande, locating Taos and Santa Fe in the North and identifying Cibola.

A number of early Indian names, including the Apaches and Zuni appear. A Lago de Oro is shown off the Gulf of California. Quivera appears in modern day Texas, along with Granada. The East Coast of North America includes many early place names, including N. Amsterdam, Chesapeac, Powhata, Gotheburg (an early Swedish Settlement), Bristou London, Plimouth, Nassau, Elsinburg, R. Iourdain, etc.

In the top left corner is a decorative cartouche, enriched with a native scene.

Cartographer(s):

Giacomo Giovanni de Rossi

Giovanni Giacomo de Rossi (1627–1691) was an Italian engraver and printer, active in Rome in the second half of the 17th century. He was born in Vignola and was the first official cartographer of the Court of Modena, in 1685, when the Duke Francis II appointed him geographer.

His father, Giuseppe de Rossi, was the founder of the most important and active printing press of the 17th century in Rome.

Condition Description

Very good condition with some light centerfold paper oxidation, minor marginal foxing, and manuscript numbering.

References

McLaughlin 65; Phillips, P.L. (Atlases) 497; Wheat, C.I. (TM) II, p.42; Tooley, R.V. (Amer) 42, p.122; Burden II, 491.