Auction Name: 2026 February 26 Historical Manuscripts & Texana Signature® Auction

Lot Number: 47323

Shortcut to Lot: HA.com/6328*47323

Nicolas de Fer. Les Costes aux Environs de la Riviere de Misisipi. Paris, 1705. 14 x 9 1/2 inches (sight), matted and framed to an overall size of 21 x 17 inches. A copper-engraved map with later outline coloring as well as an engraved ornamental pictorial cartouche depicting the death of La Salle in Texas in 1687. Originally issued in de Fer's L'Atlas Curieux (Paris, 1705).

This map locates all of the Native American villages along the lower Mississippi, the Rio Grande, and into Texas. Martin & Martin write, "The primary purpose [of De Fer's map] was clearly to show the progress the French were making in exploring their vast claim in North America, particularly in the explorations of La Salle and those of Pierre le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville who, along with his brother Jean Baptiste, explored the coastlines of present-day Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida."

The scene depicted in the cartouche is one of the earliest representations of the death of La Salle, the French explorer. On March 19, 1687, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was shot by Pierre Duhaut during an expedition to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico. Duhaut ambushed La Salle during a conversation with Jean L'Archeveque, a decoy placed by Duhaut to get his target into position. Sources claim that Duhaut had become disillusioned by the expedition's mission. His assassination was avenged by James Hiems, leading to more than a week of bloodshed as the expedition members avenged each other's deaths.

Condition: Not examined out of frame. Lightly toned with a few minor spots of foxing.

References: Martin & Martin 13.

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