1664 Du Val / Champlain Map of Canada, New England, and the Great Lakes

Champlain's lost map of the Great Lakes, printed in 1664 from his original copperplate: a landmark of exploration whose true origins lay hidden for three centuries.

This is a 1664 Pierre Du Val issue of one of the great maps of North American discovery: Samuel de Champlain's long-lost 1616 map, engraved after his extraordinary journey into the Great Lakes region and first printed in 1653 from Champlain's original copperplate. It preserves the geographical revelations of Champlain's 1615-16 expedition, when travel with Indigenous allies carried him deep into the continental interior and transformed European understanding of the Great Lakes. Intended for Champlain's account of these discoveries, the map lay unfinished for four decades before Du Val completed the engraving and published it in 1653. This example belongs to that remarkable publishing history, through which the major work of Champlain's exploration finally reached the public. Its true origins remained unrecognized until 1953 - exactly 300 years later! - when the discovery of an unfinished impression at the John Carter Brown Library revealed that beneath Du Val's additions survived Champlain's own lost map.

A Closer Look

Coverage extends from the Great Lakes eastward to Newfoundland and Greenland, and from Hudson Bay southward through New England, the Chesapeake Bay, and the coast labeled 'Floride.' The St. Lawrence River forms the map's principal horizontal axis, connecting the more annotated Atlantic seaboard with an interior organized around rivers, lakes, and Indigenous nations. Mountains and stands of trees provide a pictorial indication of terrain, while the extensive river network emphasizes the waterways through which Europeans entered the continent and conducted trade.

The Great Lakes retain the exploratory geography of Champlain's map. Lake Huron appears as an expansive Mer Douce, also identified as the great lake of the Hurons; Lake Ontario is Lac St. Louis. Erie is reduced to a small, river-connected body of water rather than the substantial lake familiar from later cartography. These are not yet the five clearly differentiated Great Lakes of subsequent maps. Their importance lies instead in the attempt to place newly encountered inland waters within a coherent geographical system. The rudimentary outlines of the Great Lakes reflect the uneven geographical knowledge available to Champlain. His approach to Huron territory in 1615 followed the Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, and the French River into Georgian Bay, bypassing the lower Great Lakes. Although he subsequently reached Lake Ontario, he had not traced the lakes as a connected system, and his map necessarily combined firsthand observations with Indigenous geographical accounts.

In the northwest, a narrow strip of land separates the inland freshwater world from a vast northern sea. An annotation west of Huron reports a saltwater sea beyond the mapped country. This information belongs to the map's larger concern with reaching another ocean through the continental interior; it is likely neither the Pacific nor the Great Salt Lake. Equally revealing is the northern hydrography. Champlain combined English information concerning Hudson Bay with Indigenous accounts of rivers leading northward, effectively representing James Bay twice. The resulting distortion preserves the difficulty of reconciling separately acquired descriptions of the same distant waters.

The Atlantic coast combines several generations of information. The Chesapeake incorporates geography from John Smith's Virginia of 1612, while Du Val's additions identify colonial establishments absent from Champlain's unfinished impression, including New Amsterdam and New Sweden. Offshore, the Grand Banks are rendered as conspicuous stippled areas. Their prominence places a major commercial resource alongside the inland waterways and colonial settlements. A letter-and-number key at lower left supplies additional geographical identifications without further crowding the map. The angular title cartouche, circular compass diagram, and scale occupy the open Atlantic below the principal coastal detail.

Champlain's Journey into the Great Lakes

The geographical advance embodied in the plate followed the last major exploratory journey of Samuel de Champlain (c. 1574 - 1635). In 1615, he accompanied his Wendat allies into their homeland, traveling by the Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, and the French River to Georgian Bay. He subsequently joined their campaign against the Haudenosaunee south of Lake Ontario. Wounded during the unsuccessful attack on an Onondaga fortified settlement, he returned with his allies and spent the winter in Wendat country before reaching Quebec in July 1616. The journey greatly expanded the territory mappable through personal observation, but its circumstances also show how closely French exploration depended on Indigenous diplomacy, transportation, and military alliances.

Beyond the country Champlain visited, Indigenous geographical knowledge remained indispensable. The western portion of the original design incorporated information supplied by an Ottawa chief, who drew a map with charcoal on tree bark. Other accounts helped connect the St. Lawrence watershed with northern rivers and James Bay. The map is therefore not merely a record of Champlain's travels. It combines his observations with geographical intelligence gathered from peoples whose routes and trading relationships extended far beyond the limits of French exploration.

Champlain's Lost Map

After returning to France in 1616, Champlain prepared this expanded geographical design, apparently intending it to accompany his Voyages et descouvertures faites en la Nouvelle France, published in 1619. Melchior Tavernier is credited with the engraving. However, the map was never completed for that publication, and the reason for its abandonment remains unknown. Its survival in copperplate preserved a stage of Champlain's work otherwise obscured between his earlier maps and the comprehensive map published in 1632.

Pierre Du Val (1619 - 1683), appointed geographer to the king in 1650, acquired the plate before issuing his completed version in 1653. The unfinished impression acquired by the John Carter Brown Library in 1953 appears to have been printed around that time, rather than in 1616: its paper matches that used for Du Val's first published edition. It is believed to be a trial impression taken before his alterations. Lawrence C. Wroth's 1954 study, An Unknown Champlain Map of 1616, established its relationship to the later Du Val issues. Thus, 1616 corresponds to Champlain's underlying cartographic work, while 1653 marks its first completed publication.

Publication History and Census

This example was published in Paris by Pierre Du Val and retains the engraved date 1664. It corresponds to state four in Philip Burden's revised classification, which counts the unfinished Champlain proof as state one. States break down as follows:

• 1616 - JCB Proof - only example known.
• 1653 - 1st State, published by Du Val. (map completed over proof)
• 1664 - 2nd State by Duval. 'Sur le grand Cours de l'Eau' removed from address.
• c. 1664 - 3rd State. 'Neu. Ecosse' erased. (present example)
• c. 1670 - 4th State - mystery Arctic route dated 1665 identified.
• c. 1677 - 5th State - Cartouches elaborately decorated.

We note institutional examples dated 1664 at the Library of Congress, the Huntington Library, McGill University in the W. H. Pugsley Collection, and Library and Archives Canada. These holdings document the 1664 issue but do not establish that every example represents this particular state. The sole recorded unfinished impression of Champlain's original design is at the John Carter Brown Library.

Cartographers

Samuel de Champlain (August 13, 1574 - December 25, 1635), known as the 'Father of New France', was a French navigator, cartographer, draftsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. Champlain was born wealthy but non-noble merchant family. His first major travels were a 1598 voyage to the West Indies on a trading mission with his uncle-in-law, a navigator. On his return to France, he inherited in uncle's substantial estate, including a 150-ton merchant ship. At this time, he acquired the patronage of the King of France, Henry IV, who he severed as royal cartographer, compiling numerous maps of the Americas from reports from French fishermen visiting the Grand Banks. With the King's permission, he sailed to the America on his first major voyage to New France as an observer on a fur-trading expedition led by François Gravé Du Pont. Du Pont taught Champlain navigation and introduced him to the people, places, and customs of New France. Champlain compiled several maps on the voyage, including a chart of the Saint-Lawrence River. Upon his return he published Des Sauvages: ou voyage de Samuel Champlain. Champlain joined a second expedition to New France in the spring of 1604. This long voyage lasted to 1610 and it was during this period that he mapped much of the coast and founded what is today Quebec City. He also built and maintained close relationships with those American Indian tribes who were allied with the French, most specifically the Huron, Wendat, Algonquin, and others, advising them in their constant wars with the Iroquois. Champlain returned to France on hearing of the assassination of his friend and patron, Henry IV. He remained in France long enough to marry and reestablish political connections before returning to New France in 1615. There he participated in a military expedition with the Huron against the Iroquois. This was his most epic voyage wherein he traveled and lived with the Huron, exploring deep into Huron Territory, up the Ottawa River as far as Lake Nipissing, and the along the shores of Lake Huron, becoming to the first European to visit these regions. He returned to France in 1616 and prepared the publication of yet another important work on New France. In 1620, back again in New France, this time as de facto governor, a post he could not officially hold as he was not a nobleman. He remained there until the colony was captured by the English in 1628. Champlain traveled to England to organize the return of Quebec to France and, when this occurred in 1633, he was again appointed unofficial governor. Shortly thereafter,, in October of 1635, Champlain suffered a severe stroke. Never recovering, he died on December 25the of that year leaving no immediate heirs. Champlain complied numerous maps and wrote five books about the New World. In his adventurous life, he crossed the Atlantic more than 25 times, never losing a single ship. His name is today lionized both in Quebec and in France.   Further Details...

Pierre Du Val (May 19, 1619 - September 29, 1683) was a French cartographer and publisher active in Paris during the middle part of the 17th century. He was born Abbeville, Picardie, France, where his father, also Pierre, was a merchant, consul, and alderman. His mother was Marie Sanson, sister of Nicolas Sanson d'Abbeville (1600-1667), the leading French cartographer of his day. Du Val and probably apprenticed in Sanson's workshops. Afterwards, in Paris, he studied geography under Jean-Baptiste Gault, who later became the Bishop of Marseilles. He counseled M. Henri of Savoye, abbot of St. Sorlin, and M. Gilles Bouraut, bishop of Aire and later Evreux, in matters of science and geography. Du Val became Geographe ordinaire to Louis XIV in 1650. His first atlas, the 1654 Cartes Geographiques Methodiquement Divisees, contained few of his own maps and was mostly compiled from reissues of maps by other cartographers. His early work focused on atlases and geographical treatises, but later, he turned his attentions to large separate issue, often multi-sheet maps. After his death in 1683, his widow, Marie Desmaretz, continued his business at least until 1684, after which it passed to his daughters (either Marie-Angelique or Michelle), who published until at least 1688. He is the elder brother of Placide de Sainte Hélène (1648 - 1734), Placidium Augustinum, an Augustine monk and geographer.   Further Details...

Melchior Tavernier I (1564 - 1641) was a French engraver of Flemish descent. Born in Antwerp, he was the son of Gabriel Tavernier and father of Melchior Tavernier II (1584 – 1665). He may have studied under Ortelius in Antwerp. His father Gabriel Tavernier is credited for introducing the roller press to Paris. He had the distinction of being Imprimeur en Tailles-douces de la Maison de Sa Majesté. Tavernier's workshop was located near the Pont Marchand, where apparently several other printers, including Gobert and Collet, also maintained businesses. Melchior Tavernier is the brother of the celebrated writer and traveler Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689). Tavernier engraved several important maps for figures such as Samuel de Champlain, and others. Melchior Tavernier II's work is difficult to distinguish from that of his son, Melchior Tavernier II.   Further Details...

Condition

Excellent. Light edge wear.

References

Burden, P., The Mapping of North America, #188 and #309. McCorkle, B. B, New England in Early Printed Maps 1513 - 1800, #616.3. Wroth, L. C., 'An unknown Champlain map of 1616,' Imago Mundi, Vol. XI, 85-94. John Carter Brown Library, Cabinet C61 Ch (1616), Cabinet C61 ChS 664 (1664).