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Laval, Antoine Jean, Voyage de la Louisiane, fait par ordre du roy en l'annee mil Sept cent vingt: Dans lequel sont traitees diverses matieres de Physique, Astronomie, Geographie & Marine..., Paris: Chez Jean Mariette, 1728, octavo, 9 3/4 in. x 7 1/2 in., full calf, bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, London, with over 30 maps, charts and plates, many fold-out, incl. maps of the coast of Louisiana, voyage from France to the Mississippi, Pensacola, Martinique, Cartagena, Cuba and charts of weather and navigational readings Note: The two primary maps in this volume, "Carte de la Coste de la Louisiane" and "Plan de Pensacola" were of paramount importance in the developement of Gulf Coast cartography. Based on manuscript surveys, they are am were among the first published maps of the areas they show.

  • Notes: Note: Laval’s 1728 publication recounting the 1720 scientific expedition to the Gulf Coast led by Valette-Laudan reflects one of the first published descriptions of the area. Organized and sponsored by the French government at the height of John Law’s land speculations in the recently expanded colony of Louisiana, the expedition was ineffective in acquiring new scientific data on its own due to illness within the group. It did, however, obtain valuable recent information concerning the geography and physical characteristics of the colony from other French explorers and cartographers on the ground at the time. Publication of Laval’s account in 1728 was a weak postscript for the expedition due to the demise of the Company of the Indies and accompanying land speculation in Louisiana; Laval died the following year. The publication did include twenty maps and charts reflecting the voyage and geography encountered. Two of the maps published were of paramount importance in the development of Gulf Coast cartography. Carte de la Coste de la Louisiane… is a fold out map of the central Gulf Coast. While it was not based upon Laval’s observations, it is extremely important and accurate (for its time) of the area. Apparently based upon Soupart and La Marie manuscripts prepared during the Franco Spanish skirmishes on the Gulf Coast, the map represents the first published glimpses of those manuscript surveys. While other publications distilled this and other cartographic information into smaller format maps (eg. Delisle and De Fer) for general publication, this map remains quite close to its manuscript parent, the Soupart document. The second map of great importance is the Plan de Pensacola, a chart of the Pensacola Bay harbor and bar. Derived from first hand surveying by French pilots during the retaking of Pensacola from the Spanish in 1719, this is the first published map detailing the Pensacola Bay area, site of the first European settlement in what would become the United States.

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