Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1780
Sheet size
41 × 26 cm (16.1 × 10.2 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14105-47
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Good antique condition with age-related toning, visible central fold as issued, light scattered spotting, and minor handling wear consistent with eighteenth-century paper; margins remain adequate for framing.
About this sheet
Louisiana and Florida in a copper engraving by Rigobert Bonne, circa 1780, titled "Carte de la Louisiane et de la Floride," credited "Par M. Bonne, Ingénieur Hydrographe de la Marine." The sheet is printed in black without color, with a small inset map at the lower left.
The tall sheet reaches from the Illinois country at the top, down the Mississippi, to the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida peninsula at the foot. "Louisiane" is lettered across the west bank of the river, and "Floride" along the peninsula at the lower right, with the "Détroit de la Floride" and the Tropic of Cancer marked at the bottom edge. The Mississippi and its tributaries are drawn in dense detail, the coast of the Gulf is cut by bays, and the interior is filled with the names of Native peoples such as the Chickasaws and Choctaws, as well as forts and settlements. Three sets of scale bars sit at the lower left, giving English miles, French leagues, marine leagues and Spanish leagues.
Bonne was hydrographer to the French navy at the Dépôt de la Marine in Paris, succeeding Jacques-Nicolas Bellin. The sheet shows the lower Mississippi and the Gulf Coast as geographers viewed them after France gave up Louisiana, with Spain and Britain holding the coasts.
