Le vieux Mexique ou Nouvelle Espagne avec les Costes de la Floride...
Map of the surroundings of Mexico by de Fer
The map shows Florida, Texas, Mexico and Central America. It is taken from the second edition of De Fer's Curious Atlas.
De Fer's map includes notes along the coast reflecting La Salle's discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi and his stay in Texas in 1685.
Nicolas de Fer (1646-1720), was an engraver, geographer, titled geographer of the King and active from 1687 to 1720. He began his apprenticeship at the age of 12 with an engraver. In 1687, he took over the map trade from his mother after the death of his father, Antoine de Fer, a print and map merchant who died in 1673, and executed more than 600 maps or plans: frontier maps, maps of the new conquests of Louis XIV, cities fortified by Vauban, voyages and discoveries of new territories. In his main work, the Atlas Curieuse, he published several maps of the Americas and the West Indies. At his death, his sons-in-law, Guillaume Danet and Jacques-François Bénard also engravers, continued Nicolas de Fer's activity on their own account.