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This is an exceptional four-sheet wall map of Africa published by Jean-Baptiste Nolin in Paris in 1740. The map is dedicated to Louis XV (1710-1774) and features elaborate cartographic details alongside a richly engraved decorative title cartouche.
The cartouche prominently depicts scenes of European trade and colonial activity and exchange in Africa, blending allegorical figures with imagery of enslaved people, trade goods, and the natural landscape. Surrounding the dedication are finely executed Baroque embellishments, including palm trees, fauna, and classical figures representing the twin fonts of the Nile. At the top of the cartouche is a dual scene of pagan blood sacrifice to a personified devil juxtaposed with a Christian missionary exerting a civilizing influence.
Maps of Africa have long been regarded as emblematic of the transition from early modern speculative and decorative cartography to the empirical cartography of the Enlightenment. This evolution is exemplified in Aaron Arrowsmith's 1802 Africa, which draws heavily on J.B.B. d’Anville's 1749 Afrique, showcasing a commitment to precision and a reliance on verified geographical knowledge. The present map by Nolin illustrates an earlier stage in this transformation, straddling the ornate traditions of Baroque cartography and the emerging Enlightenment emphasis on accuracy and utility.
In this Nolin map, the decorative element remains prominent but is confined to the elaborate title cartouche. However, this contrasts with the map’s more systematic and stripped-down geographic content, signaling a shift toward empiricism. Political boundaries and territorial divisions are clearly delineated but the imagined topographical features present in early maps have largely been jettisoned, as have the monsters, ships, and sea monsters used to decorate earlier geographies. The map’s structure suggests an increasing reliance on data collected from contemporary explorers, traders, and diplomats.
The map can be seen with decorative panels on the sides.
States
The following list is likely incomplete:
- Title-dated 1739(?)
- Title-dated 1740
- Title-dated 1775
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.
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