1772 Vaugondy / Diderot Map of California and Alaska ( Anian & Quivira )
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Description: A very interesting 1772 map of the western part of North America by Vaugondy. Includes two contrasting maps, both drawn from larger 17th century maps by Visscher, covering from Cabo san Lucas northward along Baja California to modern day Alaska and the Arctic.
The larger map lists many place names, both factual and fictional, along the California coast. These include the Bay of San Miguel (San Diego), Bay de Feugos, C. Mendocino, Costa Brava, and others. Inland details include a number of river systems extending northwards from the Bay of California, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the Kingdoms of Tontoneteac Regnum, Tolm Regnum, Albion, Quivira Regnum and Anian Regnum.
Many of these lands are mythical. Anian, for example, is a term derived from a John Donne poem, “Anyan if I go west by the North-West passage.” Here myth become fact, which again becomes myth. Anyan was interpreted as the Bering Strait by cartographers, successfully transitioning it from the realms of poetry to cartography. Anian presupposed the existence of a Northwest Passage and, as such, was entirely mythical, though the lands that are now Alaska long bore that name.
Just south of Anian Regum is the kingdom of Quivira. Quivira was supposedly an ancient city of gold located somewhere in North America. The conquistador Coronado spent years searching for it only, some say, to arrive and find it to be little more than an American Indian wigwam town.
The smaller of the two maps, derived from the Visscher and Pierre Plantius’s map of 1641, bears a considerably greater resemblance to actuality. Includes many actual destinations along the coast including the Cape of San Francisco. An entrance through the “Estreto de Anian” seems to lead to an Arctic Sea, thus suggesting a Northwest Passage. This map also labels both Anian and Quivira, even going so far as to note the city of Quivira, capital of the great mythical kingdom.
This map is part of the 10 map series prepared by Vaugondy for the Supplement to Diderot’s Encyclopédie, of which this is plate 4. This seminal map series, exploring the mapping of North American and specifically the Northwest Passage was one of the first studies in comparative cartography.
Date: 1772 (dated)
Source: Supplement to Diderot's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. or Vaugondy's Recueil de 10 Cartes Traitant Particulierement de L'Amerique du Nord, (1779).
References: Pedley, Mary Sponberg. Bel et Utile: The Work of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Mapmakers. 473. Falk, Marvin W., Alaskan Maps: A Cartobibliography of Alaska to 1900, #1772-3. Wagner, Henry R., The Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America to the Year 1800,, 632. Wheat, C., The Mapping of the Transmississippi West, 1540-1861, 159. Phillips, P.L. (Atlases) 1195.4.
Cartographer: Gilles (1688 – 1766) and Didier (c. 1723 – 1786) Robert de Vaugondy were an important French cartographic family in the mid 18th century. The father and son team are descended from the notable Sanson cartographic from whom they inherited much of their materials. The De Vaugondy’s were well respected for the detail and accuracy of their maps, as they used all available resources from scholarly research, to the notates of contemporary explorers, to astronomical soundings in order to produce the most accurate maps possible. They are highly praised for their title cartouches which often reference each of the sources the used to compile the maps. Their most important work is the beautifully produced Atlas Universel.
Cartographer: Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French Enlightenment era philosopher, publisher and writer. Diderot was born in the city of Langres, France and educated at the Lycée Louis le Grand where, in 1732, he earned a master of arts degree in philosophy. Diderot briefly considered careers in the clergy and in law, but in the end chose the more fiscally challenge course of a writer. Though well respected in philosophical circles Diderot was unable to obtain any of the government commissions that commonly supported his set and consequently spent much of his life in deep poverty. He is best known for his role in editing and producing the Encyclopédie . The Encyclopédie was one of the most revolutionary and impressive works of its time. Initially commissioned as a translation of Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, Diderot instead turned into a much larger and entirely new work of monumental depth and scope. Diderot’s Encyclopédie was intended to lay bare before the common man the intellectual mysteries of science, art and philosophy. This revolutionary mission was strongly opposed by the powers of the time who considered a learned middle class it a threat to their authority. In the course of the Encyclopédie production Diderot was imprisoned twice and the work itself was officially banned. Nonetheless, publication continued in response to a demand exceeding 4000 subscribers. The Encyclopédie was finally published in 1772 in 27 volumes. Following the publication of the Encyclopédie Diderot grew in fame but not in wealth. When the time came to dower his only surviving daughter, Angelique, Diderot could find no recourse save to sell his treasured library. In a move of largess, Catherine the II Russia sent an emissary to purchased the entire library on the condition that Diderot retain it in his possession and act as her “librarian” until she required it. When Diderot died of gastro-intestinal problems 1784, his heirs promptly sent his vast library to Catherine II who had it deposited at the Russian National Library, where it resides to this day.
Cartographer: The Visscher family were prominent Dutch map publishers for nearly a century. The Visscher cartographic story beings with Claes Jansz Visscher ( 1587 – 1652 ) who established the firm in Amsterdam near the offices of Pieter van den Keer and Jadocus Hondius. Many hypothesize that Visscher may have been one of Hondius’s pupils and, under examination, this seems logical. The first Visscher maps appear around 1620 and include numerous individual maps as well as an Atlas compiled of maps by various cartographers as well as by Visscher himself. Upon the death of Claes, the firm fell into the hands of his son Nicholas Visscher I, and would, in turn, eventually be passed on to his son, Nicholas Visscher II. Most of the maps bearing the Visscher imprint were produced by these two men. Many Visscher maps also bear the imprint Piscator (a Latinized version of Visscher) and often feature the image of an elderly fisherman. Upon the death of Nicholas Visscher II, the business was carried on by the widowed Elizabeth Visscher until it was eventually sold to Peter Schenk.
Size: Printed area measures 13.5 x 12 inches (34.29 x 30.48 centimeters)
Condition: Very good condition. Original centerfold. Wide clean margins. Original platemark visible. Blank on verso.
Code: Californie-vaugondy-1772 (Necessary for phone orders : 646-320-8650)
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