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Alexis Hubert Jaillot's map of England and Wales, published in 1693, is a stunning example of French cartography from the late 17th century.
The map is colored in outlined by counties. At the center of the map is a decorative cartouche, which features an elaborate coat of arms in an allegorical scene. The cartouche is richly detailed, with intricate scrollwork, floral designs, and a banner that reads "Je Main Tiendray" (I Will Maintain), the motto of the Orange-Nassau family, who patriarch, William of Orange, was then King of England. The coat of arms features a lion and a unicorn, the symbols of England and Scotland respectively, along with various other emblems and motifs.
The map itself is beautifully drawn, with carefully rendered coastlines, rivers, and other topographical features. Cities and towns are marked with tiny symbols.
Alexis-Hubert Jaillot (ca. 1632-1712) was one of the most important French cartographers of the seventeenth century. Jaillot traveled to Paris with his brother, Simon, in 1657, hoping to take advantage of Louis XIV's call to the artists and scientists of France to settle and work in Paris. Originally a sculptor, he married the daughter of Nicholas Berey, Jeanne Berey, in 1664, and went into partnership with Nicholas Sanson's sons. Beginning in 1669, he re-engraved and often enlarged many of Sanson's maps, filling in the gap left by the destruction of the Blaeu's printing establishment in 1672.
![[Part of the East Coast of England] De Noort Cust van Engelandt tuschen Crammer en de Revier van Nicasteel / Les Costes Marines d' Engleterre et Escosse entre Crammer et Orcades.](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/54865.jpg)
![[England, Scotland & Wales]. Parte Settentrionale del Regno d'Inghilterra . . . (with) Parte Meridionale del Regno d'Inghilterra . . .](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/89516.jpg)
![[Portland Island / Weymouth / Rye] Race of Portland [and] De Rivier Rye Camber in geleegen voor in t Canael aen de kust van Engeland eren binnen de Hoofden](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/85217.jpg)
