[Sanson, Guillaume - Moullart-Sanson, Pierre, ed.]

Introduction a la Geographie en Plusieurs Cartes avec leur Explication par les Srs Sanson, geographes ordinaires de Roy. Paris: Le Clotre de St. Nicolas du Louvre, 1710




Folio (16 3/4 x 11 in.; 425 x 280 mm). Engraved title, 25 engraved maps hand-colored in outline (of which 7 are double-page folding), 5 plates containing instruments and diagrams (of which 3 have a total of 4 volvelles); text leaves lightly browned, ink smudges on page 47, some dampstains in upper inner corner of plates affecting image, one volvelle creased but intact, "Mappe Monde" on page 8 has 2-inch clean tear in South Seas mended without loss and a small fold tear. Contemporary speckled calf, spine richly gilt, gilt-stamped red leather title label on spine; rebacked with original spine laid down.

Abbé [Anatole?] Toussaint, of Montaure, Eure (inscription on front free endpaper)

text leaves lightly browned, ink smudges on page 47, some dampstains in upper inner corner of plates affecting image, one volvelle creased but intact, "Mappe Monde" on page 8 has 2 inch clean tear in south seas mended without loss and a small fold tear. Contemporary speckled calf, spine richly gilt, gilt-stamped red leather title label on spine; rebacked with original spine laid down.
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Revised and updated edition, of this handsome and highly technical introduction to cartography by Pierre Moullart Sanson (fl. 1702-1730), inheritor of the Sanson firm, and royal geographer after the death of his uncle Guillaume (1633-1702). Editions of the Introduction, from 1681 onward, appear under the name of his uncle and cover much of the same ground. The maps include a variety of treatments of the eastern and western hemispheres including concave views (from the center of the earth outward), views using the Paris horizon as reference point, counter-proofs, and calculation techniques with paper instruments supplied with volvelles. The maps are dated 1703-1705, while the double-page "Mappe Monde ou carte marine" is dated 1695.

No copy in OCLC, one copy in UK (Chetham's Library), no copy in Bibliothèque Nationale. No copy has appeared at auction in the past 35 years.