Note 78 — Front matter
Reading edition
It is doubtful that Le Sueur gave assistance as here stated. The map in question is Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des Decouvertes que y Ont Eté Faites. Par Guillaume Del’Isle. Paris, l’auteur 1703. (19-1/2 × 25-1/2). There is a reproduction, reduced, in Neill’s Minnesota, 3d edition, and Milburn’s The Lance, Cross and Canoe, p. 72, on which is to be found the following note:
“The manuscript from which the above Map was prepared, was found in the ‘Bibliotheque du roi,’ in Paris in a volume of La Harpe’s journeys of 1718-1722. It is said to bear date the year 1700. If so, it is evident that after the original preparation and before publication some one has added matter subsequently ascertained, for the Map above contains items of as late a date as 1717. Also is to be noted the fact that while all the other parts of the Map are in the French language, one single English phrase is to be found in the lower right-hand corner, to-wit: ‘De Soto landed 31 May, 1538.’ This would indicate that some one other than the original draftsman had taken part in its creation and at a time subsequent to its original preparation.”
Claude and Guillaume Delisle—father and son—were the most noted French cartographers of their day. There have been reissues of the map in question, corrected to date. For a sketch of Delisle see C. A. Walckenaer, Vies de Plusieurs Personnages Célébres, 1830; and Vincent Dutouret, Examen sur Toutes les Cartes Generales des quatre parties de le Terre, mises au jour, par feu Delisle, dupuis 1700, jus’qu en 1725, pour Servir d’Eclaircissement sur la Geographis, 1728.