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Description

Rare map of North America, published in Brussels by Philippe Vandermaelen.

The present map is a rare (unrecorded?) single sheet map of North America, published by Vandermaelen, who is perhaps most famous for his 6 volume world atlas, the first world atlas prepared on a uniform scale and the first atlas to employ lithography. While we have never seen the map before and can find no bibliographic records for the atlas, it may have been intended as a key sheet for Vandermaelen's 4 sheet map of North America. /gallery/detail/19906

Vandermaelen 4-sheet map of North America was first issued in 1831, to compete with the large format maps of by Arrowsmith, Tanner, Wyld and Brue. The 1831 map provided a detailed look at North America, most notably, the hydrographical features of the Tranmississippi West and the location of the many Indian Tribes west of the Mississippi River.

The present map shows one relatively unique feature, the 3 orders of "Ligne(s) de partage des eaux," which loosely translated shows the primary mountain ranges which divide the watershed's of North America and Mexico. One line can be seen runing from Alaska to Mexico and generally coincides with the Continental Divide. a second line runs east and west from Mt. King to Nova Scotia, dividing the Rivers flowing north and east toward Hudson's BAy and The St. Lawrence from those flowing southward toward the Mississippi River. Another line tracks the Alleghany and Appalachian Mountains. Curiously, a line is show running west and parallel to the Colorado River.

This hydrographic theme seems to be common to both the this map and the 4 sheet map, hence our speculation that this map was perhaps intended as a key sheet.

Philippe Marie Vandermaelen Biography

Philippe Marie Vandermaelen (1795-1869) was a Belgian cartographer and geographer known for his pioneering use of technology and his leadership in establishing the important Establissement geographique de Bruxelles. Born in Brussels, Philippe was obsessed with maps from a young age. He taught himself mathematics, astronomy, and mapmaking and plotted the battles of the Napoleonic wars avidly. He took over his father’s soapmaking business briefly in 1816, but then turned it over to his brother in favor of cartography.

From 1825 to 1827, he released his first atlas, the Atlas universal, which was well received. It was sold in forty installments of ten maps each, with 810 subscribers listed. The atlas contained 387 maps in six volumes at a uniform scale of 1:1.6 million. The maps were intended to be joined and together would create a globe 7.755 meters wide. It was the first atlas to show the entire world on a large uniform scale and was the first atlas produced using lithography. This project served as Vandermaelen’s gateway into intellectual life, gaining him membership in the Royal Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres of Brussels (1829).

In 1830, Vandermaelen inherited a laundry from his parents which he converted into the Establissement geographique de Bruxelles, or the Brussels Geographical Establishment. His brother, Jean-Francois, also established a botanical garden on the site. The Establishment had its own lithographic press, one of the first to use the technology for cartography and the first in Belgium. They produced textbooks, surveys, and especially maps of Brussels to be used for urban planning. The complex also housed schools, an ethnographic museum, and a library open to the public. Vandermaelen was passionate about geographic education and saw the Establishment as an open place where people could learn about the world.

In 1836, he was knighted for his services to geography and the intellectual community of Belgium. He died at age 73 in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, near the Geographical Establishment that he founded. After Vandermaelen’s death, the Geographical Establishment declined, closing its doors in 1880. The extraordinary collection they had amassed passed to several institutions, most importantly the Royal Library of Belgium.