Interesting composite atlas, assembled in the middle of the 18th Century by an unknown owner.
The map includes a fine array of maps by a number of France's leading mapmakers, including a number of multi-sheet wall maps.
The atlas includes several very rare maps, including a very rare late edition of Sanson's important map of the rivers of France, re-issued in 1737.
Perhaps the most interesting and important map in atlas is Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville's 2 sheet map of the Theatre of War in Spain, dated 1719, which would have been completed by D'Anville about the time of his 22nd birthday and same year in which he became one of the King of France's Royal Geographers. Over the next 6 decades, D'Anville (1697-1782) would go on to become one of the foremost mapmakers in 18th Century Europe and his private map collection would form one of the most important private collections assembled in the 18th Century.
The contents include:
- 1742 De Vaugondy Le Royaume De France
- 1746 Nolin Carte du Gouvernement Militaire de l'Isle de France
- 1728 De Fer / Danet L'Archeveche de Paris ...
- 1717 Jaillot Governement General de Champagne (2 sheets)
- Jaillot La Generalite de Soissons . . .
- Jaillot La Generalite de Moulins . . .
- 1707 Jaillot La Province de Berry. -- La Generalite de Bourges . . .
- 1715 Jaillot La Province D'Auverge . . .
- 1719 Jaillot La Generalite de Limoges . . .
- 1742 Nolin Le Diocese de Limoges . . .
- 1711 Jaillot La Generalite de Tours . . .
- 1711 Jaillot Les Eslections de Tours . . .
- 1718 Delise Carte de la Beauce du Gatinois de la Solgne . . .
- 1733 Jaillot Gouvernement Generale de Guinne et Gascogne . . . (2 sheets)
- Nolin La Generalite de La Rochelle . . . (2 sheets)
- 1732 La Province de P:Oitou et le Pays D'Aunis . . .
- 1706 Carte de l'Evesche de Nantes . . .
- 1703 La Province ou Duche de Bretagne Divisee en deux Grandes Parties . . .
- 1719 Jaillot Le Gouvernemewnt General de Normandie . . . (2 sheets)
- 1736 Jaillot Carte Topogrpaphique du Diocese de Bayeux . . . (2 sheets)
- 1717 Jaillot Gouvernement général de Picardie qui comprend la généralité d'Amiens divisée en ses huit élections. . . (4 sheets)
- Carte du Ressort du Conseil d'Artois et des Environs 1741
- 1729 Jaillot Le Comte de Flandres . . . (2 sheets)
- 1720 Le Comte de Haynaut . . .
- Jaillot Les Estats du Duc de Lorraine . . . (6 sheets)
- 1707 Jaillot L'Alsace divisee en ses principales parties . . . (2 sheets)
- 1695 La Franche Comte divisee en Trois Grandes Balliages . . . (2 sheets)
- 1708 Jaillot Le Gouvernement General du Duche de Bourgogne et de la Bresse . . . (2 sheets)
- Nolin Le Gouvernement General et Militaire du Lyonnois . . . (2 sheets)
- 1728 Jaillot Le Dauphine . . .
- 1741 Beaurain Carte du Diocese de Grenoble . . .
- 1715 Delisle Carte de Provence
- Nolin Le Gouvernement General de Languedoc
- 1703 Nolin Les Montagnes des Sevennes . . .
- De Fer / Danet Le Rousillon . . .
- 1700 Jaillot Provinces-Unies des Pays Bas . . .
- 1745 Robert de Vaugondy L'Empire d'Allemagne . . .
- Nolin Les Suisses Leurs Alliez . . .
- 1707 Les Estats de Savoye et de Piemont . . . (6 sheets)
- 1719 Jaillot Les Monts Pyrenees . . .
- 1719 D'Anville Carte du Royaume d'Aragon . . . / Theatre de La Guerre d'Espagne . . . . (2 sheets)
- 1712 Delisle Carte du Bearn de la Bigorre de L'Armagnac . . .
- 1737 Sanson/Robert de Vaugondy Carte des Rivieres de La France . . .
The table of contents calls for 34 maps, suggesting that addition of others over time. There is also evidence of the removal of several maps, although all the maps on the table of contents are present, plus an extra 9 maps.
Didier Robert de Vaugondy (ca. 1723-1786) was the son of prominent geographer Gilles Robert de Vaugondy and Didier carried on his father’s impressive work. Together, they published their best-known work, the Atlas Universel (1757). The atlas took fifteen years to create and was released in a folio and ¾ folio edition; both are rare and highly sought-after today. Together and individually, father and son were known for their exactitude and depth of research.
Like his father, Didier served as geographer to King Louis XV. He was especially recognized for his skills in globe making; for example, a pair of his globes made for the Marquise de Pompadour are today in the collection of the Municipal Museum of Chartres. Didier was also the geographer to the Duke of Lorraine. In 1773, he was appointed royal censor in charge of monitoring the information published in geography texts, navigational tracts, and travel accounts.
The Robert De Vaugondy Family
Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1688-1766) and Didier Robert de Vaugondy (1723-1786) were influential figures in the realm of 18th-century French cartography. Originating from Paris, their contributions to mapmaking were significant during an era of expansive geographical exploration.
Gilles Robert de Vaugondy entered the world of cartography not through family tradition but through personal interest and the budding opportunities of his time. Born in 1688, he worked during a time when Paris was becoming a central hub for cartographic activities. Gilles often incorporated the latest findings from explorers into his maps, making them sought-after for their contemporary relevance. His connections weren't limited to his immediate circle; he frequently interacted with other key mapmakers, staying updated on the latest techniques and findings.
His son, Didier, was born in 1723 and had the advantage of growing up surrounded by maps and globes. While his father was renowned for maps, Didier made a name for himself in the field of globemaking. His globes were some of the most precise and detailed in France, gaining recognition even among the royalty. In addition to his work in cartography and globemaking, Didier had a keen interest in education, especially after the expulsion of the Jesuits from France. He stepped in to produce geographical educational materials, fulfilling a newfound need.
In terms of predecessors, the Vaugondys followed in the footsteps of notable French cartographers like Nicolas Sanson and Guillaume Delisle. The latter was particularly influential during the early 18th century, setting high standards in scientific cartography. As for competitors, the Vaugondys were contemporaries with Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, a cartographer who, like them, was rigorous in his methodologies and had a significant influence on mapmaking during the same period.
The maps and globes produced by the Vaugondys remain an enduring testament to the peak of French cartography during the Enlightenment. Their works, characterized by precision and the inclusion of contemporary findings, helped to shape our understanding of the world during a transformative period in European history.
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.
Guillaume De L'Isle (1675-1726) is probably the greatest figure in French cartography. Having learned geography from his father Claude, by the age of eight or nine he could draw maps to demonstrate ancient history. He studied mathematics and astronomy under Cassini, from whom he received a superb grounding in scientific cartography—the hallmark of his work. His first atlas was published in ca. 1700. In 1702 he was elected a member of the Academie Royale des Sciences and in 1718 he became Premier Geographe du Roi.
De L'Isle's work was important as marking a transition from the maps of the Dutch school, which were highly decorative and artistically-orientated, to a more scientific approach. He reduced the importance given to the decorative elements in maps, and emphasized the scientific base on which they were constructed. His maps of the newly explored parts of the world reflect the most up-to-date information available and did not contain fanciful detail in the absence of solid information. It can be fairly said that he was truly the father of the modern school of cartography at the commercial level.
De L’Isle also played a prominent part in the recalculation of latitude and longitude, based on the most recent celestial observations. His major contribution was in collating and incorporating this latitudinal and longitudinal information in his maps, setting a new standard of accuracy, quickly followed by many of his contemporaries. Guillaume De L’Isle’s work was widely copied by other mapmakers of the period, including Chatelain, Covens & Mortier, and Albrizzi.
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.
Alexis-Hubert Jaillot (ca. 1632-1712) was one of the most important French cartographers of the seventeenth century. Jaillot traveled to Paris with his brother, Simon, in 1657, hoping to take advantage of Louis XIV's call to the artists and scientists of France to settle and work in Paris. Originally a sculptor, he married the daughter of Nicholas Berey, Jeanne Berey, in 1664, and went into partnership with Nicholas Sanson's sons. Beginning in 1669, he re-engraved and often enlarged many of Sanson's maps, filling in the gap left by the destruction of the Blaeu's printing establishment in 1672.
Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697-1782) was one of the foremost French geographers of the eighteenth century. He carried out rigorous research in order to create his maps, which greatly developed the technical proficiency of mapmaking during his lifetime. His style was also simpler and less ornate than that of many of his predecessors. It was widely adopted by his contemporaries and successors.
The son of a tailor, d’Anville showed cartographic prowess from a young age; his first map, of Ancient Greece, was published when he was only fifteen years old. By twenty-two, he was appointed as one of the King’s géographes ordinaire de roi. He tutored the young Louis XV while in the service to the Crown. However, royal appointment did not pay all the bills, so d’Anville also did some work for the Portuguese Crown from 1724. For example, he helped to fill out Dom João V’s library with geographical works and made maps showing Portugal’s African colonies.
D’Anville disapproved of merely copying features from other maps, preferring instead to return to the texts upon which those maps were based to make his own depictions. This led him to embrace blank spaces for unknown areas and to reject names which were not supported by other sources. He also amassed a large personal map library and created a network of sources that included Jesuits in China and savants in Brazil. D’Anville’s historical approach to cartography resulted in magnificently detailed, yet modern and academic, maps. For example, his 1743 map of Italy improved upon all previous maps and included a memoir laying out his research and innovations. The geographer also specialized in ancient historical geography.
In 1773, d’Anville was named premier géographe de roi. In 1780, he ceded his considerable library to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to be used for as a reference library for diplomats. D’Anville is best known for several maps, including his map of China, first published in 1735, and then included with Du Halde’s history of that country (the Hague, 1737). His map of Africa (1749) was used well into the nineteenth century.