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An Early Florida Rarity
Rare regional map of Florida, the Gulf Coast and Southeastern United States, published in Paris by Pierre Du Val.
The title translates as follows:
Florida was subjected to the Spanish after the French had withdrawn, the interior of the country is still under the dominion of little Lords [indigenous Indians] whom they call Paraoustis. The cities of S. Augustin, and S. Mathieu are near the Bahama Canal.
Du Val's map is a contemporary of Sanson's 1657 map of the region. Burden surmises that the map was likely issued prior to Sanson's work. The major difference is the prominence given the Rio del Spiritu Santu (Mississippi River), which pushed far west of its true location and course. Caroline is named at Port Royal, and the French claim to the region is identified.
The present example of the map was previously bound into a composite atlas by Du Val, with the maps trimmed and mounted on large sheets of 17th Century paper. It is know to survive as a single printed sheet with 18 miniature maps of different parts of America.
Rarity
The map is catalogued as separate map in Henry Harrisse's Revue de geographie, Volume 17 (1885), in the section entitled Cartographie de La Nouvelle France, item 111.
Burden identifies two states. The first (circa 1656) is known in a single example at the British Library. The second, dated 1661 with the imprint of Lagniet, includes the addition of longitude and latitude marks.
We note appearance of the second state (sheet of 18 miniature maps) was offered by Jonathan Potter circa 1998 and Martayan Lan in 2008.
Pierre Duval (1618-1683) was a French geographer, cartographer, and publisher who worked in Abbeville and Paris during the seventeenth century. He was born in the former city, in northeast France, before moving to Paris. Duval was the nephew of the famous cartographer Nicolas Sanson, from whom he learned the mapmaker's art and skills. Both men worked at the royal court, having followed the royal request for artists to relocate to Paris. In addition to numerous maps and atlases, Du Val's opus also includes geography texts. He held the title of geographe ordinaire du roi from 1650 and died in 1683, when his wife and daughters took over his business.
![[ The Dying Bubble-Lord in the Lap of Madame Compagnie ] De stervende Bubbel-Heer in den schoot van Madame Compagne](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/104094.jpg)
