"Description des Castors & de Leur Industrie, des Canots, Habitations, Habillemens, Maniere de Vivre des Sauvages du Canada avec la Maniere dont ils se Marient les Hieroglyphes...", Chatelain, Henry Abraham

Subject: Canada
Period: 1720 (circa)
Publication: Atlas Historique
Color: Black & White
Size: 14.5 x 16.9

This is the famous beaver sheet from Volume Six of Chatelain's mammoth atlas. It contains descriptions and illustrations of beavers and their industry, and of the canoes, dwellings, hunting, fishing, clothes, customs, and writing of the Canadian Native Americans. The part of the text entitled Amors & mariages des sauvages details how the prospective groom would woo his bride, which is also illustrated above. The large and pointy-toothed beaver is recognizable in later cartouches by Robert de Vaugondy, Santini, and others.
Condition: B+
A crisp impression on a sheet with a Strasbourg bend and lily watermark and some minor printer's ink residue. There is a centerfold separation that enters 1" into neatline at bottom that has been closed on verso with archival tape.