Rare Moullart-Sanson Composite Atlas
Interesting composite world atlas, including maps by Pierre Moullart-Sanson, Nicolas Sanson, Guillaume Sanson, Pierre Mariette and Jean Baptiste Nolin.
The atlas includes 2 unusual thematic world maps and maps of Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America.the British Isles, ancient and modern France, 15 regional maps of France, 2 maps of the Low Countries, Holy Roman Empire, Poland, Iberia, Italy, Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary.
The map includes a fine example of Nicolas Sanson's second map of North America, in the rare second state (dated 1690).
List of Maps
- Carte de l’Hémisphère occidental, par le sieur Mouillart – Sanson.
- Carte de l’Hémisphère oriental, par le sieur Mouillart – Sanson. Sphère armillaire, Sanson d’Abbeville.
- Carte de l’Europe, par Sanson, 1695.
- Carte des Iles Britanniques.
- Carte de la France : L’ancienne Gaule. Sanson, 1693
- Carte de la France et les conquêtes, par Mouillart – Sanson
- Carte de la province de Picardie. Nolin, 1694
- Carte de la Normandie. Sanson, 1665
- Carte de l’Isle de France. Sanson, 1679
- Carte de la Prévosté de Paris. Sanson
- Carte la Champagne et de la Brie.
- Carte de la Lorraine. Sanson, 1661.
- Carte de l’Alsace et de l’Allemagne reconquise.
- Carte de la Bretagne.
- Carte de l’Orléanais. Sanson, 1650
- Carte de la Bourgogne. Sanson, 1648.
- Carte du Lyonnais.
- Carte de la Guyenne et de la Gascogne.
- Carte du Languedoc. Sanson, 1667.
- Carte du Daufiné (sic) et de la Savoye, et de la Bresse. Sanson, 1696.
- Carte de la Provence. Sanson, 1690.
- Carte des Provinces Unies des Pays Bas.
- Carte de la Flandre.
- Carte de l’Allemagne. Sanson, 1691.
- Carte de la Pologne. Sanson, 1679.
- Carte de l’Espagne. Sanson, 1692.
- Carte de l’Italie. Sanson, 1689.
- Carte des Etats du Grand Seigneur des Turcs ou Sultan des Ottomans. Déchirure à la pliure. 1696.
- Carte du royaume de Hongrie, partie septentrionale de la Turquie d’Europe. Sanson, 1689.
- Carte de l’Asie,. Sanson, 1689.
- Carte de l’Afrique. Sanson, 1690.
- Carte de l’Amérique septentrionale. Sanson, 1690.
- Carte de l’Amérique méridionale. Sanson, 1679.
The son of famous French cartographer Nicolas Sanson, Guillaume (1633-1703) carried on his father's work. Like his sire, he was a court geographer to Louis XIV. He often worked in partnership with another prominent cartographer of the time, Hubert Jaillot.
Nicholas Sanson (1600-1667) is considered the father of French cartography in its golden age from the mid-seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth. Over the course of his career he produced over 300 maps; they are known for their clean style and extensive research. Sanson was largely responsible for beginning the shift of cartographic production and excellence from Amsterdam to Paris in the later-seventeenth century.
Sanson was born in Abbeville in Picardy. He made his first map at age twenty, a wall map of ancient Gaul. Upon moving to Paris, he gained the attention of Cardinal Richelieu, who made an introduction of Sanson to King Louis XIII. This led to Sanson's tutoring of the king and the granting of the title ingenieur-geographe du roi.
His success can be chalked up to his geographic and research skills, but also to his partnership with Pierre Mariette. Early in his career, Sanson worked primarily with the publisher Melchior Tavernier. Mariette purchased Tavernier’s business in 1644. Sanson worked with Mariette until 1657, when the latter died. Mariette’s son, also Pierre, helped to publish the Cartes générales de toutes les parties du monde (1658), Sanson' atlas and the first French world atlas.
Jean-Baptiste Nolin (ca. 1657-1708) was a French engraver who worked at the turn of the eighteenth century. Initially trained by Francois de Poilly, his artistic skills caught the eye of Vincenzo Coronelli when the latter was working in France. Coronelli encouraged the young Nolin to engrave his own maps, which he began to do.
Whereas Nolin was a skilled engraver, he was not an original geographer. He also had a flair for business, adopting monikers like the Geographer to the Duke of Orelans and Engerver to King XIV. He, like many of his contemporaries, borrowed liberally from existing maps. In Nolin’s case, he depended especially on the works of Coronelli and Jean-Nicholas de Tralage, the Sieur de Tillemon. This practice eventually caught Nolin in one of the largest geography scandals of the eighteenth century.
In 1700, Nolin published a large world map which was seen by Claude Delisle, father of the premier mapmaker of his age, Guillaume Delisle. Claude recognized Nolin’s map as being based in part on his son’s work. Guillaume had been working on a manuscript globe for Louis Boucherat, the chancellor of France, with exclusive information about the shape of California and the mouth of the Mississippi River. This information was printed on Nolin’s map. The court ruled in the Delisles’ favor after six years. Nolin had to stop producing that map, but he continued to make others.
Calling Nolin a plagiarist is unfair, as he was engaged in a practice that practically every geographer adopted at the time. Sources were few and copyright laws weak or nonexistent. Nolin’s maps are engraved with considerable skill and are aesthetically engaging.
Nolin’s son, also Jean-Baptiste (1686-1762), continued his father’s business.