1770 Delisle de Sales Map of Egypt under the Pharaohs
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Description: This is a fascinating example of the 1770 Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle de Sales' historical map of Egypt. The map depicts Egypt under the rule of the Pharaohs and, centered on the Nile Valley, covers from the Mediterranean Sea to the Elephantine Island. The Canal of the Pharaohs, an ancient tunnel linking the Nile to the Red Sea, is here named Canal de Ptolemae. The important ancient caravan route from the Red Sea port of Berenice to Coptos (Qift) is noted. The pyramids and catacombs near Memphis are also identified. Several other important towns, mountains, rivers and other topographical details are noted. This map was issued as part of Delisle de Sales' Histoire des hommes. Partie de l'Histoire Ancienne. Becasue most of Sales' work was burnt under the censorship of heresy, this volume is exceedingly rare.
Date: 1770 (undated)
Source: Delisle de Sales, Histoire des Hommes. Partie de l'Histoire Ancienne (Paris) 1770.
Cartographer: Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle de Sales or Jean-Baptiste Isoard de Lisle (1741–1816) was a French philosopher, historian, and heretic active in the late 18th century). Sales is best known for his publication of the multi-volume opus The Philosophy of Nature: Treatise on Human Moral Nature. The work, among other ideas, challenged the Biblical theory that the earth was created in 4004 BC. Instead, Sales asserted, supposedly based upon astronomical observations, that the earth was 140,000 years old. Sales' revolutionary ideas saw him heretic and his works were censored, and for the most part destroyed, by the Catholic Church. Consequently all of his works are extremely rare. Sales was also, notably, a close friend of Voltaire who in 1777 visited him in prison, gifting him 500 pounds towards his release. Delisle de Sales is unrelated to the more famous De L'Isle family of cartographers. Click here for a list of rare maps by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle.
Size: Printed area measures 13 x 9.5 inches (33.02 x 24.13 centimeters)
Condition: Very good. Original platemark visible. Minor wear along original folds. Blank on verso.
Code: EgyptPharaohs-sales-1770 (to order by phone call: 646-320-8650)
