Antique Map: Vaugondy’s 1772 quintet of MAPS showing California as an Island!

Description: Antique Map: Vaugondy’s 1772 quintet of MAPS showing California as an Island Map 241 Vaugondy "Carte de la Californie Suivant" 1772 NOTE: I fell (again) last week and will be 87 (God willing) in three weeks. My wife (and I) are anxious to find homes for the treasures we have collected in our 56 years of marriage. The day after I fell, I offered this map to an Auction House for consignment. They MAY list it and might sell it (hammer price) for $700. And IF they do that: (a) the buyer will have to pay 25% more: $840, and (b) I will get 10% less: $630! Do you want to make an offer (e.g. $725) that – even with eBay’s fees -- is fair – and saves YOU some money? If you are at all interested, please read the listing below. There is much to be learned and I worked collecting this information. >>>>> Special Features: Tour de farce of California is an Island Guest Editor: I, Harald Leuba, am listing this map on eBay with the permission of the eBay account holder, my wife of 56 years, Nancy Kingsbury, aka "Showjudge". She is worried about how to find homes for our "stuff" when I die -- > if I die before her. We have enjoyed living with this map in our collection, but as I age, (I am now 86), I feel that I ought to protect IT from becoming lost in some 2nd hand store and, more importantly, I need to protect Nancy from having to cope with how to harvest its reasonable value in a time of personal stress. [In other words: We are downsizing!]...... I bought this map from John Faupel, Antique Atlas, East Grinstead, UK some 25 years ago. It was his # 223 in catalog 107. I have misplaced John's catalog. However: (a) John titled it: Vaugondy Carte de la Californie Suivant 1772If I put Vaugondy “Carte de la Californie” Suivant 1772Into Google:There are 1,330 hits! The First is from Barry Lawrence Ruderman, Antique Maps, Inc. [ $675.00][See Photo #5 above] {{all the other photos are of our map!}} Cartographer: Denis DiderotTitle: Carte De La Californie Suivant 1. La Carte manuscrite de l’Amerique de Mafhieu Neron Pecci olen dressee a Florence en 1606, 2 Sanson 1656 … Publication Place/Date: Paris / 1772Image Dimensions: 15 x 12 inchesColor: UncoloredCondition: VG Description: “Survey of the Fine Early Maps of California“A historically important depiction of the 5 most influential cartographic depictions of California, showing the evolution of how California was mapped between 1604 and 1767.“The earliest map is (upper right corner) based upon a manuscript map by Mathieu Neron Pecci, drawn in Florence in 1604. This map also forms the basis of a map popularized in 1770 by Rigobert Bonne.“The second map is Nicholas Sanson's map of California as an Island, based upon his larger map of 1656. This map was probably the single most influential projection of California as an Island.“The third map (lower right) is a portion of Guillaume De L'Isles map of America, published in 1700. While not truly peninsular in nature, it was influential in the shift back toward depicting California as a Peninsula.“The fourth map (upper center) is a portion of Fra. Eusebio Kino's map, generally credited with being the map which dispelled California as an Island myth. Issued in 1705, the map is based upon Father Kino's overland expedition from the mainland to the top of the Gulf of Cortez.“The fifth map is one of the most interesting and enduring maps of California and Baja (left side). Initially issued by the Society of Jesuits in 1767, it was popularized by Isaak Tirion and was perhaps the most interesting of all maps of Baja California in the 2nd half of the 18th century.“This map was 1 of 10 maps to appear in the Supplement to Diderot's monumental encyclopedia, one of the most influential and widely distributed works of the second half of the 18th century. Diderot's goal was to examine and display the popular geographical conceptions of several different parts of the world where the knowledge of the region's geography was still largely unknown and evolving. Other maps treat the Northwest Passage, Northeast Passage and the NW Coast of America, among other topics.“A marvelous amalgam and an essential map for California collectors.”…. Meanwhile: Elsewhere Barry Lawrence Ruderman, Antique Maps, Inc. has written about the history of “California as an Island”: ESSAYS: CALIFORNIA-AS-AN-ISLANDIntroduction: “The popular misconception of California as an island can be found on European maps from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries. From its first portrayal on a printed map by Diego Gutiérrez, in 1562, California was shown as part of North America by mapmakers, including Gerardus Mercator and Abraham Ortelius. In the 1620s, however, it began to appear as an island in several sources. While most of these show the equivalent of the modern state of California separated from the continent, others, like a manuscript chart by Joao Teixeira Albernaz I (ca. 1632) now in the collection of the National Library of Brasil shows the entire western half of North Americas as an island. “The myth of California as an island was most likely the result of the travel account of Sebastian Vizcaino, who had been sent north up the shore of California in 1602. A Carmelite friar, Fray Antonio de la Ascensión, accompanied him. Ascension described the land as an island and around 1620 sketched maps to that effect. Normally, this information would have been reviewed and locked in the Spanish repository, the Casa de la Contratación. However, the manuscript maps were intercepted in the Atlantic by the Dutch, who took them to Amsterdam where they began to circulate. Ascensión also published descriptions of the insular geography in Juan Torquemada’s Monarquia Indiana (1613) (with the island details curtailed somewhat) and in his own Relación breve of ca. 1620.“The first known maps to show California as an island were on the title pages of Antonio de Herrera’s Descripción de las Indias Occidentales (1622) and Jacob le Maire's Spieghel Der Australische Navigatie (1622). Two early examples of larger maps are those by Abraham Goos (1624) and another by Henry Briggs, which was included in Samuel Purchas’ Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes (1625). In addition to Briggs and Goos, prominent practitioners like Jan Jansson and Nicolas Sanson adopted the new island and the practice became commonplace. John Speed’s map (1626-7), based on Briggs’ work, is well known for being one of the first to depict an insular California.“The island of California became a fixture on mid- and late-seventeenth century maps. The island suggested possible links to the Northwest Passage, with rivers in the North American interior supposedly connecting to the sea between California and the mainland. Furthermore, Francis Drake had landed in northern California on his circumnavigation (1577-80) and an insular California suggested that Spanish power in the area could be questioned.“Not everyone was convinced, however. Father Eusebio Kino, after extensive travels in what is now California, Arizona, and northern Mexico concluded that the island was actually a peninsula and published a map refuting the claim (Paris, 1705). Another skeptic was Guillaume De L’Isle. In 1700, De L’Isle discussed “whether California is an Island or a part of the continent” with J. D. Cassini; the letter was published in 1715. After reviewing all the literature available to him in Paris, De L’Isle concluded that the evidence supporting an insular California was not trustworthy. He also cited more recent explorations by the Jesuits (including Kino) that disproved the island theory. Later, in his map of 1722 (Carte d’Amerique dressee pour l’usage du Roy), De L’Isle would abandon the island theory entirely.“Despite Kino’s and De L’Isle’s work, California as an island remained common on maps until the mid-eighteenth century. De L’Isle’s son-in-law, Philippe Buache, for example, remained an adherent of the island depiction for some time. Another believer was Herman Moll, who reported that California was unequivocally an island, for he had had sailors in his offices that claimed to have circumnavigated it. In the face of such skepticism, the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, had to issue a decree in 1747 proclaiming California to be a peninsula connected to North America; the geographic chimera, no matter how appealing, was not to be suffered any longer, although a few final maps were printed with the lingering island.”…..Google Images shows several sites with antique copies of this map, in various conditions, for sale:AbeBooks.com $825.49AbeBooks.com $550.33AbeBooks.com $605.36 As well as modern reprints. …. My comment: If you are interested enough in maps to be considering an original one, you know that the plates for antique maps were often reused/reprinted/recycled/revised and that there are many different (related) versions available today. You will also know that maps were not usually stand-alone images. They appeared in bibles, histories, and even (as here) in atlases! So far as I am able to determine: there is but ONE state of this map. Last October, Barry Ruderman came to our house to look at our maps with a view to his acquiring the whole collection. He was warmly professional and lived up to his reputation for expertise. He said that our maps had been well cared for and were in good condition. He put an estimated market value on this map of $750.--> if he were to offer it for sale in his business. {Of course, since he has to make a profit in his business, he did not offer us that much!} I am listing this map here at his estimate. Take a look and Buy it Now, or make an offer......Our map is in excellent condition.Our map is uncolored – as issued.Our map has never been framed. The image is clear and clean; the paper is flat the margins are full.This Map will make a dramatic statement framed! Please help us find a new home for this treasure. Thank you for looking. Harald & Nancy P.S. Inflation? NO! When I bought my first map, there was silver in our US coinage. When I was in college, I could buy a gallon of gas for a silver quarter and mail a letter home for 4ç. TODAY I can buy 1.3 gallons of gas for the value of that silver quarter, and postage is now 60ç. Antique maps have doubled in price in the last ten years. Are they a store of value? I think so, but whether they are or not, they can be a permanent source of pleasure. P.P.S We are using the proceeds of this sale, not to add “dollars” to our bank account, but to support a local charity with mortgage help for neighbors who have lost income due to covid! We hope you enjoy your purchase and get warm feelings from helping others!

Price: 750 USD

Location: Potomac, Maryland

End Time: 2024-02-07T18:59:51.000Z

Shipping Cost: 4.13 USD