- Title: Carte Generale des Parties Connues du Globe
- Author: Pierre Mortier
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Date: 1809
- Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
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Condition:
On a sturdy sheet with a bunch of grapes watermark, with very light soiling, a few spots of foxing, and marginal toning. There is heavy soiling along the edges of the sheet, which are deckle-edged.
- Product ID: 308048
A very uncommon iteration of Pierre Mortier's unique world map published by Jacques Desray. Though it was widely known to be incorrect, California is shown as an island. The fabled Straight of Anian is shown to the north of the Island of California at the Pacific entrance to the wishfully depicted Northwest Passage. In the western portion of North America there is a large and inaccurate lake shown to be the source for the Rio Norte, and In the Great Lakes region there is a large open-ended lake named Mer Douce. The northeast coast of Asia is severely curtailed, and a small coastline of New Zealand appears in the Pacific. Australia's northern coast is presented as connected to New Guinea with two fragmented coastlines on the southern edge of the continent also mentioning Van Diemen's Land. Along the upper portion of the map are 5 spheres, depicting day and night, the phases of the moon, the flood, as well as the Western and Eastern Hemispheres.