With Rennell's 4-Sheet Map of India
First French edition, with the maps revised by Jean Nicholas Buache, including James Rennell's four-sheet map of India - probably the most accurate map of India at the time.
Called the "The Father of Indian Surveying" (Susan Gole, Early Maps of India). He charted the currents through the Indian Ocean and around Africa, and later surveyed the Indian interior. Rennell's first map of Hindoostan was the result of 500 separate surveys. The present volume includes his second great work, a 4-sheet map which the DNB described as "the first approximately correct map of India."
James Rennell, born in Chudleigh, Devon, England, was a prominent 18th-century cartographer who joined the British Navy at 14, gaining expertise in marine surveying during the Seven Years' War. At 24, he became the surveyor of the British East India Company's territories in Bengal, and in 1765, he began the first comprehensive surveys of India. Rennell's work combined data from British military expeditions with historical sources like the Ain-e-Akbari, a 1598 Mughal administrative manual, allowing him to map India according to its Mughal provincial divisions. His pioneering surveys significantly advanced British geographical knowledge of India, bridging a crucial gap before the era of direct British rule under Queen Victoria.
The maps and plan in the present volume are as follows:
- Carte de L'Indostan ou de L'Empire Mogol; d'apres les Observations les plus récentes [in 4 sheets]
- Contrées Situées entre Delhi et Candahar Contenant le Cachemire, et les Sources de L'Indus. Tirées principalement des Matériaux receuillis par le Capitaine Guillaume Kirkpatrick.
- Pays Situés Entre la Source du Ganges et la Mer Caspienne
- Vue Générale des principales Routes et Divisions de L'Indostan. 1784.
- Marche des Colonels Fullarton et Humberstone, dans les Contrée de Coimbettore et Nair en 1783.
- Additions au Berar
- Plan d'une partie du cours du Gange ...
- Carte de la Navigation Interieure
Rarity
This book is rare in the market.
James Rennell, born in Chudleigh, Devon, England, in 1742, emerged as one of the most distinguished cartographers of his era. At the age of 14 he joined the British Navy as a midshipman, where he gained invaluable experience in marine surveying and hydrography during the Seven Years' War (1756-1763). This expertise led to his appointment at 24 as the Surveyor General of the British East India Company's territories in Bengal. Beginning in 1765, Rennell undertook the monumental task of surveying India, a region where the British East India Company had established its presence over a century earlier. Rennell's work was pivotal in mapping the Indian subcontinent, combining data from British Army expeditions with historical sources like the Ain-e-Akbari, a 16th-century Islamic geographic treatise. His approach included subdividing the country based on the Mughal provinces, or 'subas,' which provided a more detailed and historically grounded understanding of the region's geography. Rennell's contributions significantly advanced European knowledge of India, bridging the gap between the early days of British involvement in the region and the later colonial period under Queen Victoria.