Language

French

Featured Items

Detail of a printed map shows Detroit with labels reading "Grande Saline," "Mosquitto Bay," and so on.

Pilote americain septentrional

Georges-Louis Le Rouge
1778-1789
Detail of a printed map shows decorative elements such a sun, a person carrying arrows, ships and fish at sea, a scale, and a key with text in French at the bottom of the map.

Carte geographique de la Nouvelle France

Samuel de Champlain
1612
Detail of a printed map shows latitude and longitude lines and text in French such as "Commandeur Bering."

Nouvelle Carte des Descouvertes Faites par des vaisseaux russes aux côtes inconnues...

1754
Detail of two books shows brown leather binding and spine labels "1" and "2" and the shortened title.

Histoire philosophique et politique, des établissemens & du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes.

Guillaume Thomas Francois Raynal
1770
Detail of a printed book shows a page with text in French and an illustration on the opposite page.

Code Noir: ou Recueil d’edits, déclarations et arrets concernant les Esclaves Nègres de l’Amérique

1743
Detail of a printed book shows text in French.

Lettre aux Espagnols-Américains

Juan Pablo Vizcardo y Guzman
1799
Detail of a printed book shows a full-page illustration on the frontispiece showing a child carrying the world on their shoulders.

Atlas des Enfans, ou nouvelle methode pour apprendre la geographie,...

1784
Detail of a printed map shows text in French, latitude and longitude lines, and small mountains.

Le pilote de l'isle de Saint-Domingue et des débouquemens de cette isle…

1788

Related

View of the fort and watchtower or lookout at Cayenne, Guiana. Includes fortifications, ships, boats, dwellings, and barracks.
Fellow's Talk

“Vast Forests of Clove”: Spice Production in French Guiana, 1790-1848

A detail from the "Carte Physique de la Grande Mer"
Collections Up Close

Philippe Buache, “Carte Physique de la Grande Mer ci-devant nommée Mer du Sud ou Pacifique…” from Cartes et tables de la géographie physique ou naturelle: présentées au roi le 15 mai 1757, Paris: 1770

August 30, 2021
Cartouche of the map “La Louisiane…”  made in 1695 by Vincenzo Coronelli
Collections Up Close

Vincenzo Coronelli, “Partie occidentale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France…” Paris : Chez J.B. Nolin, 1688

June 30, 2021
Guided show-and-tell

Autour du Monde: A Guided Tour

French 18th century text
In House

"Réponse de M. Duchilleau..."

February 15, 2019
19th century botanical guide by auguste de saint-hilaire

Plantes Usuelles des Brasiliens (Paris, 1824)

November 1, 2017
photograph of the spine and first page of la cosmography vniuerselle d'André theuet, a book printed in Paris in 1575

Conserving La cosmographie vniuerselle d'André Theuet

May 1, 2017

See Also

Black History

Ephemera