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Description

Rare Chart of the Balearic Islands -- Published in London

Fine chart of the Balearic Islands by Jose de Espinosa y Tello, published in London in 1812 and engraved by "E. Jones".  

The chart was produced during the time period when Spain's Direccion de Hidrografia under the Don Jose de Espinosa y Tello, its first director, was in London, in part working to establish a lithographic workshop for the publication of sea charts in 1806.  This very rare chart of the Balearic Islands in London was produced under Espinosa & Tello's direction, during the Napoleonic Wars, when a number of the most important mapmakers of the Spanish Hydrographical Office were in fact working outside of Madrid for extended periods of time, including in Paris and London.

The chart is based upon the a chart of the same name published in 1786 by Vicente Tofiño de San Miguel, one of fifteen charts which appeared in the monumental Atlas Marítimo de España.  The chart was created for Jose de Espinosa y Tello, during his time in London.  During this time period, Espinosa y Tello was accumulating significant amounts of cartographic information from British sources, in anticipation of his return to Madrid.

Other charts published in London under Espinosa y Tello's direction in this time frame include Espinosa y Tello's 6 sheet map of the Pacific, which was also engraved by Jones, entitled Carta general para las navegaciones a la India Oriental por el Mar del Sur y el Grande Oceano que separa el Asia de la America construida por Dn. Jose de Espinosa . . . Londres año 1812; E. Jones grabo.

The present chart is significantly revised and updates, with soundings and significantly more topographical detail than its 1786 predecessor, and  adds and inset map "Planos de los Canales entre la Isla de Iviza y La Del Espalmadord al N. de Formentera," along with an extensive note at the bottom left corner explaining Signals and References to the Island of Mallorca.

States of the Chart and Rarity

The chart is apparently extremely rare. 

We were unable to locate any example of the 1812 edition of the map and only a few references to a re-issuance of the map 49 years later in 1861.

OCLC locates a single example of a later revised and re-issued example of the chart, dated 1861 (Biblioteca National de España).  This later chart bears an extra line of text below Jones' name (below the title), providing the date of 1861 and a line below the neatline, giving a price for the map in Spanish Pesetas.  The catalog of the Universidades de Catalunya also references the 1861 edition of the map.

 An incomplete entry in Phillips suggests that the Library of Congress holds one of the two editions of the map  (entry 1835). 

The 1861 edition of the chart was offered for sale in a Spring 2006 by Altea Galleries (#896).

Condition Description
Several light stains at the top.
Reference
Peter Barber, Riches For The Geography of America and Spain: Felipe Bauza and His Topographical Collection, 1789-1848. Ursula Lamb, Early Spanish Plans for Lithographic Reproduction of Maps: a Fruitful Failure, p. 323-331. (Revista da Universidade de Coimbre, Vol XXXV, 1989).