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Rare separately published map of the Roman Empire, published by Pierre du Val in Paris and engraved by Henri Le Roy.
Based upon Ortelius's map of the Roman Empire, the map includes sailing ships, sea monsters and an elegantly engraved border. The present example includes an elegant dedication cartouche to the Abbey Michel Antoine Baudrand (1633-1700). Baudrand was a French geographer and historian, most renowned for his comprehensive geographical dictionary, "Geographia", published in 1682. Baudrand was secretary to Cardinal Francesco Barberini, whom he accompanied to the Papal Conclaves of 1655 and 1667.
At the bottom, the map includes an extensive key, offering translations for modern place names to the names of the same places in Roman times, with the Roman name in bold letters.
States of the Map & Rarity
We note three states of the map, both exceptionally rare:
- Signed by Henri Le Roy at bottom left. Lacking dedication cartouche and without credit to Du Val (BnF)
- Blank dedication cartouche and no reference to Du Val (BnF)
- Signed by Henri Le Roy at bottom left. Dedication Cartouche to L'abbé Michel Antoine Baudrand (1633-1700)
- Henri Le Roy not present. Title Cartouche with additional note: "Apud Viduam I.B. Nolin . . . " Blank dedication cartouche. 4 cardinal directions added to the decorative border (Septentrio, Merides, Occidens, Oriens).
Both states show evidence of a prior state of the map, likely published by Henri Le Roy (1579-1652). Given the birth dates of Michel Antoine Baudrand, we surmise that the map was first published by Le Roy.
OCLC locates examples of all 4 states in the Bibliotheque National de France.
OCLC locates only 1 other example (state 3), in the University of Strasbourg Geography Library (STRASBOURG1-SCD GEOGRAPHIE).
In addition, we note examples of state 3 in the National Library of Portugal.
OCLC locates several examples of the Nolin edition, which seems to have been issued in about 1705.
Pierre Duval (1618-1683) was a French geographer, cartographer, and publisher who worked in Abbeville and Paris during the seventeenth century. He was born in the former city, in northeast France, before moving to Paris. Duval was the nephew of the famous cartographer Nicolas Sanson, from whom he learned the mapmaker's art and skills. Both men worked at the royal court, having followed the royal request for artists to relocate to Paris. In addition to numerous maps and atlases, Du Val's opus also includes geography texts. He held the title of geographe ordinaire du roi from 1650 and died in 1683, when his wife and daughters took over his business.
