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Description

Extremely rare separately issued map of South America, published at the beginning South America's Century of Revolution.

The map prominently depicts the colonial possessions of the Portugese and French, with extensive geographical and topographical details and annotations. The cartouche, by master engraver Jean-Michel Moreau, features an Amazon woman walking beside an Alligator on the left, a cherub and angel fly above her, a horse and a cornucopia to the right, and the lower portion littered with Western items like a canon, a crown, a lute, a globe, and cartographer's tools.

The map is exceedingly rare, this being the only example we have ever seen offered for sale.

Condition Description
2 sheet folding map, unjoined. Minor discoloration and abrasion at centerfold and minor staining at the bottom.
Pierre Antoine Tardieu Biography

Pierre Antoine Tardieu (1784-1869), also known to sign his works as PF Tardieu, was a prolific French map engraver and geographer. The Tardieu family, based in Paris, was well known for their talent in engraving, cartography, and illustration. Pierre Antoine’s father, Antoine Francois Tardieu, was an established cartographer who published numerous atlases. His son is said to have collaborated with him for many years before establishing his own independent career.

Pierre Antoine Tardieu’s most famous work includes engravings of the islands of La Palma and Tenerife, for which in 1818 he was awarded a bronze medal by King Louis-Phillipe for the beauty and accuracy of his mapping. Other famous work includes his mapping of Louisiana and Mexico, engravings of Irish counties, maps of Russia and Asia, and his highly celebrated illustrations of all the provinces of France. He was also the first mapmaker to engrave on steel.

Tardieu was a popular map engraver in his lifetime, enjoying the patronage of the likes of Alexander von Humboldt and respect among his peers. In 1837, he was appointed the title Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur. As was written in his obituary in the Bulletin of the Geographical Society of France, he was renowned for his combination of technical talent and scholarly research skills and praised for furthering his family’s well-respected name in the scientific arts.