With Image of a Volcanic Eruption at Mt. Aetna
Finely detailed map of island of Sicily, with a large inset of Malta, published by Guillaume De L'Isle in Paris.
The map extends to include the Aeolian Islands, which are here called the Lipari Islands. It is filled with a wealth of interesting details including roads, forests, fortresses, churches, abbeys, ancient ruins, aqueducts, and towns.
The most prominent feature of the map is the large active volcano, Mt. Etna. The inset at lower left focuses on the islands of Malta and Goze. The inset has its own scale and significant buildings and fortifications are listed.
Philippe Buache (1700-1773) was one of the most famous French geographers of the eighteenth century. Buache was married to the daughter of the eminent Guillaume Delisle and worked with his father-in-law, carrying on the business after Guillaume died. Buache gained the title geographe du roi in 1729 and was elected to the Academie des Sciences in the same year. Buache was a pioneering theoretical geographer, especially as regards contour lines and watersheds. He is best known for his works such as Considérations géographiques et physiques sur les découvertes nouvelles dans la grande mer (Paris, 1754).