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A Rare Early French Postal Map
This rare postal map of France was created by Nicolas de Fer, a royal geographer to the King of France, and published by Danet in Paris. It provides a detailed representation of the postal routes within France, reflecting the regulated network used for official and civilian correspondence during the Ancien Régime.
The map illustrates the postal routes that connected cities and towns throughout the Kingdom of France, with Paris serving as the central hub. Major roads are depicted in yellow, with red dots marking key postal relay stations where couriers could change horses and continue their journeys without delay. The map extends beyond France’s borders in the north, showing parts of neighboring regions of Belgium.
A decorative cartouche in the upper-left corner is accompanied by allegorical figures, reinforcing the official nature of the map.
On either side of the map, two large tables provide numerical data regarding distances. These lists record the number of lieues (a French league, approximately 4.8 km) between Paris and principal cities across the kingdom.
This map exemplifies the sophisticated infrastructure of the French postal system in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Under Louis XIV and later monarchs, France developed one of Europe’s most advanced postal networks, ensuring reliable communication across vast distances.
Nicholas de Fer (1646-1720) was the son of a map seller, Antoine de Fer, and grew to be one of the most well-known mapmakers in France in the seventeenth century. He was apprenticed at twelve years old to Louis Spirinx, an engraver. When his father died in 1673, Nicholas helped his mother run the business until 1687, when he became the sole proprietor.
His earliest known work is a map of the Canal of Languedoc in 1669, while some of his earliest engravings are in the revised edition of Methode pour Apprendre Facilement la Geographie (1685). In 1697, he published his first world atlas. Perhaps his most famous map is his wall map of America, published in 1698, with its celebrated beaver scene (engraved by Hendrick van Loon, designed by Nicolas Guerard). After his death in 1720, the business passed to his sons-in-law, Guillaume Danet and Jacques-Francois Benard.
