Watch List notes:

French copperplate-engraved map of the Lesser Antilles by Rigobert Bonne titled "Carte des Isles Antilles ou du Vent Avec la Partie Orientale des Isles sous le Vent," 1770 (Paris), hand colored. 14-1/2" x 10" (image size 12-1/2" x 8-1/4"). The Antilles Islands name was derived from "Antillia," a phantom island reputed, in the 15th century, to lie in the Atlantic Ocean west of Spain and Portugal. After the time of Columbus maps of this area were more accurately drawn and depictions of "Antillia" gradually disappeared, giving way to the 18th-century map you see here which includes many popular areas such as St. Thomas, St. Croix, Antigua, Martinique, Tortuga, St. Maarten, and Tortola as well as the western part of Puerto Rico and northern Venezuela. From Rigobert Bonne's famous Atlas de toutes les parties connues du Globe Terrestre (1770), Paris. Rigobert Bonne (1727-1795) was one of the most important cartographers of the late 18th century and succeeded Jacques Nicolas Bellin as royal cartographer to France in 1773. Nicely hand colored on fine period handmade laid paper containing a French watermark and centerfold as issued; previous mounting removed from back.
($250-375)