Sanson d'Abbeville, Nicolas | Establishing the shape of the West

Sanson d'Abbeville, Nicolas

Le Nouveau Mexique, et la Floride. Paris: Pierre Mariette, 1656

Copperplate engraved map (to sight: 557 x 320 mm). Handcolored in outline; one or two stray spots. Matted and framed; not examined out of frame.

"An important map, the first in a printed atlas to put the greatest emphasis on California and new Mexico. A map of great influence, it became the model for the delineation of California for the next 50 year" (Tooley). Wheat notes that with this map Sanson introduced the names of numerous places along the Rio Grad, as well as several Indian tribes. 

A bright, attractive example

REFERENCE

Leighly, California as an Island 27; Tooley, Mapping of America 115; Wheat, Trans-Mississippi West 50