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1669, Map,Asia, Ornately Engraved -Nicolas Sanson

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Historic Maps

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Large Hand-Colored Map of Asia by Nicolas Sanson 1669

1669, Map of Asia, Ornately Engraved by Nicolas Sanson, Choice Extremely Fine
This impressive map is hand-colored in hues of green, pink, orange, yellow and brown. The dark, bold colored, cartouche reads: "Par N. Sanson Geographe Ord. du Roy. Reveue et Change'e en Plusieurs endroits Suirant les Memoires les Plus Recents. Par G Sanson geogr'Ordinaire du Roy. A. Paris, Chez 1 Autheur, aux Galleries du Louure, Avec privilege de sa Maj pourso' Ans. 1669". The overall measurements of this map are 22.5" x 28.5". It has a neutral colored 2" mat which is decorated with a multi-lined border. The gold 3/4 inch frame is attractive and it is ready for display.



Nicolas Sanson (1600 – 1667), was a French cartographer, wrongly termed by some the creator of French geography. He was born of an old Picardy family of Scottish descent, at Abbeville, on the 20th (or 31st) of December 1600, and was educated by the Jesuits at Amiens (Amiens (IPA: [amj?~]) is a city and commune in northern France, 120 km north of Paris. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardie).
In 1627 he attracted the attention of Richelieu by a map of Gaul which he had constructed (or at least begun) while only eighteen. He gave lessons in geography both to Louis XIII and to Louis XIV; and when Louis XIII, it is said, came to Abbeville, he preferred to be the guest of Sanson (then employed on the fortifications), instead of occupying the lodgings provided by the town. At the conclusion of this visit the king made Sanson a councillor of state.
In 1647 Sanson accused the Jesuit Philippe Labbe of plagiarizing him in his Pharus Galliae Antiquae; in 1648 he lost his eldest son Nicolas, killed during the Fronde. (La Fronde (1648–1653) was a civil war in France, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. The word fronde means sling, with which the windows of supporters of Cardinal Mazarin were broken with stones by Paris mobs). Among the friends of his later years was the great Condé. He died in Paris on the 7th of July 1667. Two younger sons, Adrien (d. 1708) and Guillaume (d. 1703), succeeded him as geographers to the king.



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