Map Of North America; Antique Map by Covens & Mortier, 1708

An extraordinary map, this is a faithful reproduction of Covens and Mortier's 1708 reissue of De L'Isle's landmark 1700 mapping of North America. Covers the continent of North America from the Baffin Bay southwards as far as the Spanish Main, westwards to Cape Mendocino, and eastwards to include the Azores and the Sargasso Sea. Cartographically, this map is practically identical to De L'Isle's map though the title cartouche has been moved to the upper left quadrant and the mile scales to the upper right with a new curtain motif frame. Tooley, in his Mapping of America, considers this to be a foundational map and indeed it is one of the most influential maps to emerge from the De L'Isle workshop. Further north along the coast San Diego, Seyo, Cape Mendocin, and Francis Drakes Port, and the English claim of New Albion are noted. Both Mexico and New Mexico are mapped with considerable sophistication with mines, indigenous peoples, mountains and river ways, and the missions of Santa Fe, Taos, and San Antonio de Senecu (El Paso) noted. Just to the east of Barbados, in the Antilles, a curious apocryphal island appears with the label "I. de Fonseca selon Quelquefuns". This island, which is here surrounded by dangerous rocks and reefs, appears in several maps of the region as early as Hondius' Americae Novissima Descriptio where it is identified as Y. de S. B. This island was also identified by M. Rochette with the label Galissioniere's Rock. Other ships, including the Rainbow, claim to have seen the island as late as 1822. De L'Isle was the first to give the map a definite name, Fonseca. Even so, with so few sightings of the island it disappeared from most maps issued in the 18th century.