Large French World Atlas with Excellent Western Maps
Map of Mexico & Texas Republic
A tour-de-force of an atlas, issued posthumously under the name of the prolific mapmaker Adrien-Hubert Brué. This "Nouvelle Édition" of the massive 65-map Atlas Universel, with the maps "revue et augmentée" by Charles Picquet, Geographer to the King, includes excellent maps of the west incorporating some of the latest information available at the time. Brué had issued earlier atlases, going back to the 1816 Grand Atlas Universel, and a versiojn of the Atlas Universel Geographique dated 1822 and another from 1830-1834 (2nd. ed.), before the present much expanded Nouvelle Édition was issued by Picquet.
Each map has Picquet's neat circular blindstamp: "Piquet, a Paris. Propriété Acquise en 1835."
Based on how the U.S.-Mexico border is drawn in the map of Mexico, the present atlas was likely issued circa 1848.
Our example largely conforms to a copy at Stanford University (OCLC 953568378), which has an attributed date of 1846, described as follows:
The latest date on the maps is 1846. Texas is now shown as part of the U.S. and the 1846 Oregon Treaty boundary is shown. The Mexico map is dated 1845, North America is dated 1843, and the U.S. map is dated 1843. Maps are hand painted with outline and full color and bound in half leather marbled paper covered boards with a pink paper label printed with the title.
The main differences in our copy being the color of the printed label on the front cover and that our example has the maps with outline color only.
Carte Générale des États-Unis Mexicains de la République du Texas
An intriguing aspect in our example is the colored boundary on the map of Mexico, which would suggest a date ca. 1848, that is, post-Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. While the Mexico map is dated 1845, as in the aforementioned Stanford copy, our example has the boundary between the United States and Mexico clearly reflecting the large territorial expansion gained by the U.S. at the culmination of the Mexican-American War. Another curiosity is that the U.S.-Mexico border is delineated inaccurately, with a borderline drawn nearly 100 miles further south (to present-day Ensenada, Baja California) rather than the actual line just south of San Diego. This inaccuracy is perhaps due to the coloring-in of the border being done before the results of the official Boundary Surveys were published in the early 1850s.
Wheat seems to overlook the Picquet Mexico map in his historical discussion of Transmississippi Western cartography, although he lists an earlier (1835) version of it in the cartobibliography (Wheat 413). The Mexico map is here dated 1845.
An impressive mid-19th-century atlas containing nine detailed maps relating to the Americas.
List of the Maps:
1. Monde connu des Hébreux
2. Monde connu des Anciens.
3. Empire d'Alexandre.
4. Empire ancienne, Palestine et Arabie Pétrée.
5. Palestine, sous la domination Romaine.
6. Gréce ancienne, Archipel, Macédoine, Thrace.
7. Asie mineure, Arménie, Syrie, Mésopotamie
8. Italie ancienne, Plan de Rome et de ses environs.
9. Les Gaules.
10. Espagne ancienne.
11. Iles Britanniques et Germanie Anciennes.
12. Dacie, Pannonie, Illyrie et Moesie.
13. Empire Romain
14. Europe
15. Mappemonde sur la projection de Mercator.
16. Mappemonde en Deux Hémisphères.
17. Mappemondes.
18. Europe en 1789.
19. Europe en 1813.
20. Europe actuelle.
21. Suède, Norvège et Danemark.
22. Russie d'Europe.
23. Russie occidentale et Royaume de Pologne.
24. Îles Britanniques
25. Angleterre et partie méridionale de l'Écosse.
26. Belgique, Hollande et Dé. de Luxembourg.
27. France en 1789.
28. France actuelle. Partie occidentale.
29. France actuelle. Partie orientale.
30. Suisse (Carte physique et routière de la Confédération.
31. Allemagne en 1789.
32. Europe Centrale.
33. Allemagne occidentale.
34. Monarchie Prussienne.
35. Empire d'Autriche.
36. Espagne et Portugal.
37. Italie.
38. Italie, Suisse &a. Partie nord.
39. Italie, Suisse &a. Partie sud.
40. Turquie d'Europe, Grèce et Iles Ioniennes.
41. Grèce moderne. Archipel, Albanie, Macédoine, Romélie &a.
42. Asie.
43. Russie d'Asie.
44. Turqui d'Asie, Perse, Arabie, Caboul, Beloutchistan &a.
45. Indes, en deça et au dela du Gange.
46. Empire Chinois et Japon
47. Océanie, (Cinquieme partie du Monde).
48. Archipel d'Asie, ou Iles des Indes Orentales (Partie nord-O, de l'Océanie)
49. Australie, (Partie Sud-Ouest de l'Océanie).
50. Polynésie, (Parties Orientale et Septentrionale de l'Océanie)
51. Afrique, (Carte générale)
52. Afrique et Iles qui en dépendent. Partie nord.
53. Afrique et Iles qui en dépendent. Parie sud.
54. États du nord de l'Afrique, (Barbarie), Égypte et Méditerranée.
55. Égypte et Arabie Pétrée.
56. Sénégambie, Soudan, et Guinée septentrionale.
57. Amérique septentrionale, (Carte Générale)
58. États-Unis et Canada.
59. États-Unis Mexicains et Provinces-Unies de l'Amérique Centrale.
60. Golfe du Mexique et îles Antilles.
61. Iles Antilles ou Indes occidentales.
62. Amérique méridionale et îles qui en dépendent.
63. Colombie et Guyanes Française, Hollandaise et Anglaise.
64. Bás-Pérou, Haut-Pérou ou Bolivia, Chili. États-Unis de Rio de la Plata et Paraguay.
65. Brésil et partie des pay adjacents.
Andre Hubert Brué was a French geographer and cartographer. Born in Paris, he served in the French Navy, joining the Baudin expedition to the Pacific (1800-1804). After his sea service, Brué applied his navigation and charting skills to creating finely-crafted maps, which were renowned for their crisp engraving and accuracy. He drew directly on the copper of the plate, creating what he called encyprotypes. He is best known for the Atlas universal de géographie physique, politique, ancienne et moderne.