(Click the thumb nail to see a larger image)

Pub Year	Map Maker	Pub Place	Map Title	Map Price (USD)	Picture
1749	Bellin, Jacques Nicolas	Paris	Carte Reduite du Golphe du Mexique, et des Isles de l'Amerique	$3,750	Picture

An engraved map, with hand colored outlines

Size: 21 inches X 32-1/2 inches

Map Type: Atlas

This is a superior copy, extremely clean with vivid colors.

Jacques Nicolas Bellin worked as the Depot de la Marine's senior hydrographic engineer beginning in 1721 and wrote a multi volume publication on Gulf Navigation in 1749, published as the chart atlas Hydrographic Francais from which this map is believed to have been taken. Bellin is considered the most influential chart publisher in eighteenth-century France during a period when France was a major colonial power and land holder in North America.

The Florida Everglades are treated as an archipelago in this example, following the lead of other French map makers such as Buache and Moll. As exploration continued, later versions of this map would be corrected to a more modern configuration.

Many important landmarks are identified in this map including "Cap Cannaveral", "St. Angnsun", and "Baye St. Louis".

References: A List of Geographical Atlases in the Library of Congress, 588, Phillips, P.L, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1909; The Mapping of North America, Map 62, Goss, John, the Wellfleet Press, 1990