Carte De La Louisiane Et Du Cours Du Mississipi . . . A Paris Chez l'Auteur le Sr. Delisle sur le Quay de l'Horloge avec Privilege du Roy Jun 1718

Paris, 1718. No Binding. Very Good. 19 ¼ x 25 ¾ inches. Original outline color; fine condition. The rare first state (without New Orleans) of the first edition in a superb example. "This map is the mother and main source of all the later maps" (Kohl) of the interior United States and the Mississippi River. It was, in fact, "the first large-scale map accurately showing the lower Mississippi River and surrounding areas." (Schwartz) This was also the earliest printed map with the original place name that would become 'Texas.' "The most important notation to Texas history [on the map]... was that appearing along the Trinity: 'Mission de los Tiejas, etablie in 1716.' . . . This phrase marked the first appearance of a form of the name Texas on a printed map, and thus Delisle has received proper credit for establishing Texas as a geographic place name." (Martin & Martin) De l'Isle's map also was the first work to accurately trace the routes of many great explorers, including De Soto (whose route appears here for the first time on a map), La Salle, Ponce de Leon, St. Denis, Tonti, and others. Also, throughout the South and Southwest, the ranges and villages of numerous Indian tribes are shown. The inset map in the lower right details the Mississippi delta and Mobile Bay. In addition to numerous other issues of the map published by De l'Isle and his successors, La Louisiane was the basis of maps by Homann, Moll, Senex, Seutter and others. Kohl,Lowery Collection, p. 230; Schwartz/ Ehrenberg, pp. 140-41, (illus.) 146; Martin & Martin, Maps of Texas, pl. 19, pp. 98-9; Cumming, Southeast, no. 170.