![DELISLE, Joseph Nicolas (1688-1768). Explication de la carte des nouvelles decouvertes au nord de la mer du Sud. Paris: Chez Desaint et Saillant, 1752. [With:] BUACHE, Phillipe (1700-1773) and DELISLE, Joseph Nicolas. Carte des Nouvelles Découvertes au Nord de la Mer du Sud, Tant a l’Este de las Siberie et du Kamtchatka, Paris: Academie des Sciences, [1752].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/NYR/2017_NYR_15724_0013_000(delisle_joseph_nicolas_explication_de_la_carte_des_nouvelles_decouvert051757).jpg?w=1)
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DELISLE, Joseph Nicolas (1688-1768). Explication de la carte des nouvelles decouvertes au nord de la mer du Sud. Paris: Chez Desaint et Saillant, 1752. [With:] BUACHE, Phillipe (1700-1773) and DELISLE, Joseph Nicolas. Carte des Nouvelles Découvertes au Nord de la Mer du Sud, Tant a l’Este de las Siberie et du Kamtchatka, Paris: Academie des Sciences, [1752].
The first published report of any results from Vitus Bering’s Great Northern Expedition, with rare original map. The voyages of Bering, Tchirikow, and Spanberg are all recorded, as well as Delisle’s own trip to Siberia to witness the transit of Mercury in 1741 –albeit in a partial and somewhat garbled state. The map also depicts the mythical “Sea of the West,” cementing its spurious place in the history of cartography. Delisle had been invited by Peter the Great to establish a school of astronomy in Saint Petersburg and also served as an assistant to J. K. Kirilov at the Russian Academy of Sciences working on the Atlas Rossicus. Betraying his employers, Delisle sent news of some of Bering’s discoveries to Paris, where they were included in Du Halde’s monumental 1735 atlas of China. His further publication of second-hand Russian intelligence in this volume aroused widespread indignation in that country. Howes 909; Lada-Mocarski 6; Sabin 35253; Streeter 3499 and 3450; Tourville 714 and 716; Wickersham 5915.
Octavo (235 x 183mm). (Light spotting at ends, marginal repairs to final leaf). Modern black half morocco. Engraved handcolored map in separate green cloth portfolio (460 x 665mm). Provenance: Reg and Philip Remington, Books.
The first published report of any results from Vitus Bering’s Great Northern Expedition, with rare original map. The voyages of Bering, Tchirikow, and Spanberg are all recorded, as well as Delisle’s own trip to Siberia to witness the transit of Mercury in 1741 –albeit in a partial and somewhat garbled state. The map also depicts the mythical “Sea of the West,” cementing its spurious place in the history of cartography. Delisle had been invited by Peter the Great to establish a school of astronomy in Saint Petersburg and also served as an assistant to J. K. Kirilov at the Russian Academy of Sciences working on the Atlas Rossicus. Betraying his employers, Delisle sent news of some of Bering’s discoveries to Paris, where they were included in Du Halde’s monumental 1735 atlas of China. His further publication of second-hand Russian intelligence in this volume aroused widespread indignation in that country. Howes 909; Lada-Mocarski 6; Sabin 35253; Streeter 3499 and 3450; Tourville 714 and 716; Wickersham 5915.
Octavo (235 x 183mm). (Light spotting at ends, marginal repairs to final leaf). Modern black half morocco. Engraved handcolored map in separate green cloth portfolio (460 x 665mm). Provenance: Reg and Philip Remington, Books.