Amerique Boreale

     A rare map of Alaska before it was Alaska.  The engraving is so crisp and beautifully done it is hard to believe it was struck in 1837.... because it was done via early lithography.  A method of printing using the immiscibility of oil and water invented thirty years earlier by German author Alois Senefelder.  The French gentleman who put this map together or "dressee" as it were was  Charles V. Monin ( ?-1880 ).

He was one of the first to use this process in an atlas and this map appears in his "L'UNIVERS" atlas

of 1837.  The map shows Siberia, Canada, part of the arctic circle and what is now Alaska.  The map shows Great Bear and Great Slave lake which are the two largest landlocked lakes in Canada to which

both drain into the Mackenzie River, also on this map.  The Mackenzie which is the largest River in Canada and carries the majority of the Arctic watershed northwest to the Beaufort Sea in The Arctic ocean.

      This map shows a clear Northwest Passage, in fact a couple of them.  It almost looks like you could  take a motor boat and rummage through without portage  in a couple of months.  Some 28% of Canada is still unexplored never mind charted.  The map notes a fraction of Banks Island, seemingly devoid of Victoria Island and seems to be missing dozens north in the Queen Elizabeth Island Archipelago to name a few which would have made navigation difficult but it was probably the ice up until the 20th century which created the most havoc in procuring a Northwest Passage.   

      The United States bought Alaska from Russia March 30, 1867. The Alaska Treaty with Russia was negotiated by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the U.S. Edouard Stoeckl for $7.2 million USD.

       This very interesting 1749 world map  is by Jean Lattre.  The first thing that strikes one about this map is that the Americas are situated in the east, a certain oddity considering most explorations during this period were west to the Americas from Europe, Africa and the West Indies. It wasn't until 1741 on Vitas Bering's  second voyage that the Russians sighted mainland North America from the Pacific. Yes on the map the distance between Russia and North America is well, generous and Australia is only half there as well as only a glimpse of Greenland, the largest island on Earth.  This interesting projection lends itself to the way things mathematicians thought they were long before this particular map was issued. 

       The map shows George Anson's circumnavigation of the globe at the helm of the HMS Centurion of the Royal Navy.  Commodore Anson set out with a fleet of eight ships  to exact damage to the Spanish 

fleet in the Pacific during the War of Jenkin's Ear.  The name of the war was coined by British historian Thomas Carlyle and refers to a Robert Jenkins who had his ear cut of by Spanish sailors when they boarded his ship looking for contraband. 

      Jean Lattre was an engraver and publisher in Paris  during the 18th century.  Jean held the position of "Graveur Ordinaire du Roi" from 1776-1782.  He engraved maps for Jean Janvier,  Rigobert Bonne , Paolo Santini and William Faden to name a few.  His "Carte des Etatis Unis l'Amerique Suicant lr Traite de Paix de 1783" was the first French map of the United States and was dedicated to Benjamin Franklin for his negotiating efforts in The Treaty of Paris. 

      This beautifully detailed and elaborate map of the world is by Victor Levasseur.  Struck in 1849 it embodies the apex of decorative steel engraving in the middle part of the century.  The map is predicated on Mercator's Projection showing the six known continents and a glimpse of Antarctica.

Modern infusions to note include America's claims of the Oregon Territory which led to the "Fifty Four Forty" parallels dispute between Presidential hopeful James Polk and Britain which almost started a war in 1844.  The four oval vignettes represent the four seasons and at top Adam and Eve are holding hands with a Zodiac chart in the foreground. 

       Victor Levasseur was a French cartographer born December 8, 1800 in Caen, France and passed in Paris February 4, 1870.  He was most admired for his exquisite allegorical symbols and particularly his maps of the  86 French Departments while under the reign of  Napoleon  lll, the Nephew of  Napoleon l. This map is from Levasseur's "Atlas National illustre de France" and was engraved by Raimond Bonheur.  

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