#5 Florida, Cuba, & Bahamas LeMoyne, 1591 $35 $225 framed

Click for map detail

A classic French map by Jaques LeMoyne de Morgues, an artist who accompanied Rene de Laudonnier in 1564 to establish a French settlement at Fort Caroline, near the mouth of the St. John's River. The following year, Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded Spain's first permanent settlement in Florida at St. Augustine. The French fleet was destroyed offshore in a hurricane just after launching a surprise attack on St. Augustine. Two groups of shipwrecked survivors were massacred by the Spanish after their surrender on the beach near an inlet south of St. Augustine now known as Matanzas ("place of slaughter"). Menendez then marched overland to Fort Caroline and routed the French defenders.

LeMoyne escaped and eventually made his way to England on a British ship. Theodore de Bry, a publisher, travelled to London and offered to buy LeMoyne's drawings. LeMoyne refused, but after his death, his widow sold her husband's work. De Bry published it in Frankfort 1591 in the volume "Grand Voyages". This much sought after map commands high prices by collectors. The orginal of this copy is located in the archives of the St. Augustine Historical Society.

Image Size: 17 ¾" x 14 3/8"

< Back