File:Carte des courones du nord dediée au tres puissant et tres invincible Prince Charles XII Roy de Suede, des Gots et des Vandales (MAPS 133).jpg

Copper engraving, outlines handcolored with watercolor.

Relief shown pictorially.

Two sheets taped together to form one map.

Printed in cartouche in upper left corner: "Carte des courones du nord dediée au tres puissant et tres invincible Prince Charles XII. Roy de Suede, des Gots et des Vandales, Grand Duc de Finlande &c. &c. &c. par son tres humble et tres obéissant serviteur Guillaume Del'Isle de l'Academie Rle. des Sciences 1706."

Printed beneath cartouche: "A Paris Chez l'Auteur sur le Quai de l'Horloge a avec Privilege du Roy."

Text beneath cartouche from previous imprint is visible but not legible.

Printed in lower right corner is a geographic scale comparing Swedish leagues, German leagues, Norwegian leagues and marine leagues.

Printed at bottom of scale: "Gravé par Liébaux le fils."

Depicts Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, "Livonie," part of Russia, part of Lithuania, and northern Poland. Also depicted is the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea. Surrounding the title cartouche are putti blowing trumpets, the royal Coat of Arms of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, an armed man with a sword and an angel with a wreath.

Guillaume de L'Isle (1675-1726) was a cartographer and the Premier Geographer to the King in France beginning in 1718. His family played a significant part in the world of French cartography in the eighteenth century. At age 9, he drew his first map and at age 27 he became a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences. He studied under Jacques Cassini, acquiring knowledge in both mathematics and astronomy. Due to his academic background and his "critical approach to the maps of his predecssors," he became known as the first "scientific cartographer" (Moreland and Bannister, 132). Among his works are "Globe, map of the world and the four continents" (1700), "Atlas de Géographie" (1700-12), "Mississippi" (1701), "Carte du Mexique et de la Floride…" (c.a. 1703), "Carte de la Louisiane et du Mississippi" (1718) and posthumously, "Atlas Noveau" (1730 and later). Following his death, his widow took up the business with a partner, Philippe Buache (Tooley 395; Moreland and Bannister, 131-2). This map was published in de L'Isle's "Atlas de Géographie" on two different pages (David Rumsey Cartography Associates). Source(s): David Rumsey Cartography Associates. "David Rumsey Collection: Carte des Courones du Nord. (Northern section). Dediee au tres puissan." Accessed 26 Mar 2009. Moreland, Carl and David Bannister. "Antique Maps: A Collector's Handbook." New York: Longman Group, Ltd., 1983. Tooley, Ronald Vere. "Tooley's Dictionary of Mapmakers." Hertfordshire: Map Collector Publications Limited, 1979.

• Subjects (LCSH): Scandinavia--Maps--Early works to 1800; Europe, Northern--Maps--Early works to 1800; Baltic States--Maps--Early works to 1800