Highly attractive map of the Americas with a large cartouche illustrating the flora and fauna of the landmass.

Geographically, Cassini's map of the Americas is sketchy. There is little interior detail in North America, with the map still showing the English colonies on the East coast, even though the Treaty of Paris had internationally established the newly independent United States in 1783. Other borders are just as hazy, with a large amorphous region entitled Canada, which stretches all the way south to the Gulf coast from the north and the western half of North America left unnamed and lacking any detail. South America is divided between the Spanish and Portuguese possessions, with the major Spanish vice-royalties, such as Peru and Chile, marked but without any borders.

The map stretches as far west as New Zealand and also marks Hawaii, (I. de Sandwich) among multiple South Sea Islands. All of these are shown as discovered by Captain Cook, whose tracks on both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans are clearly marked. As is usual with Cassini, the map is adorned with a large, illustrated cartouche on the lower right, which is more reminiscent of maps from the late 17th or early 18th century. America, allegorically represented by a regal female figure wielding an arrow is seated on a rock while a rat like creature, possibly a possum, crouches on her left and a large cat, either a puma or a jaguar or most likely a mixture of the two lurks in the background. A cornucopia of gold, a reference to the fabulous riches of Peru, lies at her feet. Unusually, both the map and the cartouche are in original hand colour. [AMER2311]