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Description

R.P Martnius's Rare Map of China.

Martino Martini (1614-1661) was an Italian Jesuit Missionary, who traveled to China in 1640. His most important work was his Novus Atlas Sinensis, the first Chinese Atlas puoblished in teh Western World. It is one of the first true Sino-European publications, based on Chinese land surveys but presenting geographic data in a highly visual European cartographic format.

Condition Description
4to, contemporary full calf (moderate wear, upper right corner of front cover damaged and somewhat crudely recolored, head and foot of spine damaged), spine in six compartments separated by raised bands, lettered "LASIE" in the second.

19 double page engraved maps, each in old outline hand-color.
Nicolas Sanson Biography

Nicholas Sanson (1600-1667) is considered the father of French cartography in its golden age from the mid-seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth. Over the course of his career he produced over 300 maps; they are known for their clean style and extensive research. Sanson was largely responsible for beginning the shift of cartographic production and excellence from Amsterdam to Paris in the later-seventeenth century.

Sanson was born in Abbeville in Picardy. He made his first map at age twenty, a wall map of ancient Gaul. Upon moving to Paris, he gained the attention of Cardinal Richelieu, who made an introduction of Sanson to King Louis XIII. This led to Sanson's tutoring of the king and the granting of the title ingenieur-geographe du roi

His success can be chalked up to his geographic and research skills, but also to his partnership with Pierre Mariette. Early in his career, Sanson worked primarily with the publisher Melchior Tavernier. Mariette purchased Tavernier’s business in 1644. Sanson worked with Mariette until 1657, when the latter died. Mariette’s son, also Pierre, helped to publish the Cartes générales de toutes les parties du monde (1658), Sanson' atlas and the first French world atlas.