A very attractive example of this double-hemisphere world map, that includes the tracks of the voyages of George Anson and Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.

The most obvious feature of the map is the proposal that "cotes conjectures" (Brosses) connect the tip of Cape York peninsula to the southern coast of Tasmania, via, the "Terre du St. Esprit", which in turn joins up with "Terre of P. Nuyts" in the west. "Terre du St. Esprit" was subsequently revealed to be the islands of Vanuatu, misinterpreted by their explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, in 1606, as part of the mythical great south land.

The mapmaker
The Robert de Vaugondy family of cartographers, particularly Gilles and his son Didier (c1723- 1786), was "securely based on the stock in trade of the great Nicolas Sanson, inherited in 1730 by Didier's father Gilles" (Swift). The Robert de Vaugondys were descendants of Nicolas Sanson, and their atlas is clearly a continuation of Sanson's great work, 'Cartes Generales de Toutes les Parties de Monde' published in 1654 and later enhanced and enlarged by Hubert Jaillot. The maps of the East Indies, China, Japan; the maps of Africa and Egypt; and the maps of North America, Canada, Virginia & Maryland, Colonies Angloises are especially interesting as they represent the latest exploration.