|
||
|
|
|
|
An excellent map of Alaska and the NW Coast of America and NE Coast of Asia, based upon Captain James Cook's Voyage to the region in 1778 and 1779. Map also uses data from Russian manuscript maps of the region to fill in some areas.
Map is quite detailed, showing the coast of Alaska and Siberia (which was considered part of Asia). Islands off coast of Alaska also shown which further fills out the map. Numbers around the coast/bays may indicate the depth of the water in the region. The map also includes notes on the magnetic decline and usage for this map.
Rigobert Bonne (1727-1794) was an influential French cartographer of the late-eighteenth century. Born in the Lorraine region of France, Bonne came to Paris to study and practice cartography. He was a skilled cartographer and hydrographer and succeeded Jacques Nicolas Bellin as Royal Hydrographer at the Depot de la Marine in 1773. He published many charts for the Depot, including some of those for the Atlas Maritime of 1762. In addition to his work at the Depot, he is best known for his work on the maps of the Atlas Encyclopedique (1788) which he did with Nicholas Desmarest. He also made the maps for the Abbe Raynals’ famous Atlas de Toutes Les Parties Connues du Globe Terrestre (1780).
More than his individual works, Bonne is also important for the history of cartography because of the larger trends exemplified by his work. In Bonne’s maps, it is possible to see the decisive shift from the elaborate decorations of the seventeenth century and the less ornate, yet still prominent embellishments of the early to mid-eighteenth century. By contrast, Bonne’s work was simple, unadorned, and practical. This aesthetic shift, and the detail and precision of his geography, make Bonne an important figure in mapping history.
![[ California Coastline / Comparative Cartography ] Carte de la Californie et des pays nord ouest separes de l'Asie par le detroit d'Anian . . . 1772](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/82101.jpg)
![[ Mongolia & China ] Tartaricus](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/97226.jpg)