1761 Partie du Cours du Fleuve de Saint Laurent Depuis Quebec...
Partie du Cours du Fleuve de Saint Laurent Depuis Quebec jusqu au Cap aux Oyes [on sheet with] Carte du Cours du Fleuve Saint Laurent depuis Quebec jusqu'a la Mer en Deux Feuilles
By: Jacques Nicolas Bellin
Date: 1761 (published) Paris
Dimensions: 22 x 33.75 inches (56 x 85.73 cm)
This impressive double page engraving by Jacques Nicolas Bellin was published at the time of the French and Indian War, and contains two maps. The two maps are in fact sea charts, both depicting the Saint Lawrence River starting near its estuary at Isle d’Orleans. The upper chart depicts the river from just west of the island to the Cap aux Oyes (Cape of Geese), magnifying a portion of the lower chart. An inset in the upper left provides a panoramic view of Grosse Isle and its environs.
The lower chart covers more territory, detailing the river from just west of the island and extending eastward almost to the Atlantic Ocean. The confluence of the St. Lawrence Estuary and the Saguenay River, where the waters of the Great Lakes, the Saguenay basin and the Atlantic Ocean meet, is depicted in the lower chart.
The charts provide detailed information for navigational purposes. Rhumb lines radiate from a number of points. Water depths and safe anchorages are indicated in places, areas of shallows which extend along either side of the river and around the island, and underwater hazards are included. Place names and cities are noted, including Quebec with its fortifications. The chart shows the area in great detail, with the hazards it presents to navigation of it carefully delineated. Churches and/or religious sanctuaries on either side of the river are named and represented by miniscule circles topped with crosses.
Condition: This sea chart is in very fine condition. A small hole near the centerfold has been repaired with archival material on the verso, with minimal loss of part of a rhumb line.
Inventory #12380
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