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1650 Nicolas Sanson / Pierre Mariette Map of Europe
Europe-sanson-1650$425.00
Title
L'Europe par le Sr. Sanson d'Abbeville Geographe du Roy A Paris Chez l'Autheur et Chez Pierre Mariette Rue St. Iacques a L'Esperamnce Avec privil. du Roy Pour 20 Ans.
1650 (undated) 15.5 x 22 in (39.37 x 55.88 cm) 1 : 14000000
1650 (undated) 15.5 x 22 in (39.37 x 55.88 cm) 1 : 14000000
Description
This is Nicolas Sanson's 1650 map of Europe, in a beautiful original color example. Sanson's maps signaled the development of a French positivist tradition in cartography.
Sanson's continent maps were all freshly drawn to a Sinusoidal Projection, exhibiting parallel latitude lines, but with longitude lines curving towards the poles. Though developed in the 16th century, this pseudocylindric projection is often termed a 'Sanson-Flamsteed' projection because of the frequent use to which the projection was put by these geographers. On the present map, this projection emphasizes detail towards the equator while condensing towards the poles. This allows the legible incorporation of new information to the east, particularly Issac Massa's mapping of the Volga and its tributaries. While Dutch mapmakers had produced maps derived from Massa's work, they did not incorporate Massa's cartography into their general maps of Europe as here.
A Closer Look
The map presents continental Europe, the British Isles, and Iceland. It includes North Africa, reaching as far south as Morocco and the Canary Islands, and the Nile River Delta and part of the Red Sea; the map reaches to the uppermost part of mainland Scandinavia, and part of Nova Zembla; it reaches as far east as the Pyasina River in Siberia; the map also includes the mouth of the Volga, emptying into the Caspian sea.Deliberately Visually Distinctive
Prior to Sanson, French mapmakers tended, predominantly, to copy the work of their contemporaries in the Netherlands - not only in terms of the cartography, but also the decorative elements. Sanson dispensed with this, with the result that even in cases where his maps provided no new information, they presented as more serious and authoritative than the maps they supplanted. Apart from the elegant, wreath-motif cartouche, Sanson's map here is stripped of embellishment such as ships or animals.Sanson's continent maps were all freshly drawn to a Sinusoidal Projection, exhibiting parallel latitude lines, but with longitude lines curving towards the poles. Though developed in the 16th century, this pseudocylindric projection is often termed a 'Sanson-Flamsteed' projection because of the frequent use to which the projection was put by these geographers. On the present map, this projection emphasizes detail towards the equator while condensing towards the poles. This allows the legible incorporation of new information to the east, particularly Issac Massa's mapping of the Volga and its tributaries. While Dutch mapmakers had produced maps derived from Massa's work, they did not incorporate Massa's cartography into their general maps of Europe as here.
Publication History and Census
This map was engraved in 1650 for inclusion in Les Cartes Generales de Toutes le Parties du Monde, the atlas jointly published by Nicolas Sanson and Pierre Mariette. The map remained in the atlas until a completely new one was engraved in 1669 by Nicolas's son Guillaume. We have not identified any changes in state between 1650 and 1666, the latest confirmed edition we have seen of the present map. It appears in only a few institutional collections, but is offered on the market from time to time.CartographerS
Nicolas Sanson (December 20, 1600 - July 7, 1667) and his descendants were the most influential French cartographers of the 17th century and laid the groundwork for the Golden Age of French Cartography. Sanson was born in Picardy, but his family was of Scottish Descent. He studied with the Jesuit Fathers at Amiens. Sanson started his career as a historian where, it is said, he turned to cartography as a way to illustrate his historical studies. In the course of his research some of his fine maps came to the attention of King Louis XIII who, admiring the quality of his work, appointed Sanson Geographe Ordinaire du Roi. Sanson's duties in this coveted position included advising the king on matters of geography and compiling the royal cartographic archive. In 1644, he partnered with Pierre Mariette, an established print dealer and engraver, whose business savvy and ready capital enabled Sanson to publish an enormous quantity of maps. Sanson's corpus of some three hundred maps initiated the golden age of French mapmaking and he is considered the 'Father of French Cartography.' His work is distinguished as being the first of the 'Positivist Cartographers,' a primarily French school of cartography that valued scientific observation over historical cartographic conventions. The practice result of the is less embellishment of geographical imagery, as was common in the Dutch Golden Age maps of the 16th century, in favor of conventionalized cartographic representational modes. Sanson is most admired for his construction of the magnificent atlas Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde. Sanson's maps of North America, Amerique Septentrionale (1650), Le Nouveau Mexique et La Floride (1656), and La Canada ou Nouvelle France (1656) are exceptionally notable for their important contributions to the cartographic perceptions of the New World. Both maps utilize the discoveries of important French missionaries and are among the first published maps to show the Great Lakes in recognizable form. Sanson was also an active proponent of the insular California theory, wherein it was speculated that California was an island rather than a peninsula. After his death, Sanson's maps were frequently republished, without updates, by his sons, Guillaume (1633 - 1703) and Adrien Sanson (1639 - 1718). Even so, Sanson's true cartographic legacy as a 'positivist geographer' was carried on by others, including Alexis-Hubert Jaillot, Guillaume De L'Isle, Gilles Robert de Vaugondy, and Pierre Duval. More by this mapmaker...
Isaac Abrahamszoon Massa (1586 - 1643) was a Dutch merchant, traveller and diplomat, and the envoy to Muscovy. His writings represent among the best primary sources Russia's Time of Troubles (Смутное время) and he produced some of the first maps of Eastern Europe and Siberia based on actual exploration. His cartographic contributions were quickly absorbed by the Dutch mapmaking trade, and can be seen in the works of Hessel Gerritz, Blaeu, Hondius and their descendants in the trade. Massa was born into a wealthy silk merchant's family, possibly Huguenot in origin. He first traveled to Russia in 1601 to further his family's trade interests there; during his time there he saw the latter half of Boris Godunov's reign and the outbreak of the Time of Troubles. He escaped a far more tumultuous Russia than the one to which he arrived in 1609. Massa's account of these events, which he presented to Stadtholder Maurice, were astonishingly not committed to print until the nineteenth century. He did, in 1612–1613, published two articles on Russian events and the geography of the Land of Samoyeds, accompanied by a map of Russia, which were published in a volume edited by Gerritsz. Massa's rendition of the Siberian coast, in particular, represented an advance in geography which was unsurpassed for decades, and consequently was widely copied. In 1614 Massa returned to Moscow as an official envoy of States-General of the Netherlands to obtain exclusive trade agreements and to investigate the trade routes into Persia. Following an abortive attempt to become an agent for Moscovia in 1624, he was able to find a place supporting the Swedish Gustaf II Adolf in pursuit of grain trade with Russia, for which efforts he was knighted by the Swedish King in 1625. Learn More...
Source
Sanson, N. and Mariette, P., Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties du Monde, (Paris) 1650-1666.
Condition
Very good. Light toning and few marginal mends. Else excellent with original outline color.
References
OCLC 768190694. Pastoureau, M. Les Atlas Français XVIe-XVIIe siècles. p. 403, #21.