| Method | Copper engraved with hand colour |
| Artist | Robert de Vaugondy, Didier |
| Published | [Paris, c.1772] |
| Dimensions | 290 x 385 mm |
| Notes |
A suite of five maps on a single plate, showing the development of the mapping of California during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, produced by Didier Robert de Vaugondy for the Supplement to Diderot's Encyclopédie. The current example has been embellished with hand coloured borders, and settlements and towns are picked out in red. The map's full title is enclosed in a boxed cartouche in the top right corner: 'Carte de la Californie Suivant I. la Carte manuscrite de l'Amerique de Mathieu Neron Pecci olen dresses a Florence en 1604. II. Sanson 1656. III. De l'Isle Amerique Sept. 1700. IV. le Pere Kino Jesuite en 1705. V. la Societe des Jesuites en 1767. La cote orientale depuis le C. de Vierges jusqui a l'embouchure du R. Colorado est extraite de la Carte du P. Ferdinand Gonsaque dressee en 1746' As the title attests, the earliest example of the five is derived from a manuscript drawn in Florence in 1604 by a mapmaker named Pecci, which shows California as a peninsula. The second is a recreation of the influential map by Sanson issued fifty years later, showing California as an island. In the third map, de l'Isle has evidently attempted to leave the debate open by marking the northern part of the peninsula as a broken coastline, neither island nor peninsula. The fourth map, based on the overland expedition of the Jesuit Father Kino, effectively ended the debate, proving that California was a peninsula. The fifth, another Jesuit map, became the standard map of California for the rest of the eighteenth century, adopted and popularised by Isaak Tirion. This final map provided a much more accurate eastern coastline between Cabo Virgenes and the Colorado river, based on a map drawn in 1746 by Father Ferdinando Gonzaga. Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1688-1766) and his son Didier (1723-1786) were French cartographers, publishers, and globe-makers, responsible for the publication of the Atlas Universel (1757), one of the most significant cartographical achievements of the 18th century. The de Vaugondy family were descendants of the cartographer Nicholas Sanson d'Abbeville, and inherited many of his plates. These were reissued with updated astronomical observations and corrected longitudinal and latitudinal information in the Atlas Universel. Didier continued reissuing the Atlas after his father's death, and was appointed geographer to Louis XV later in life. Gilles often signed his maps simply as Sr. (or Sieur) Robert, whilst Didier usually used 'Robert de Vaugondy' as his signature, occassionally adding 'fils' to clearly distinguish himself from his father. The Encyclopédie, Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une Société de Gens de lettres was a French general encyclopaedia in 28 volumes published in Paris between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. The general editor of the series until 1759 was Denis Diderot, the celebrated Enlightenment philosopher, author, and art critic. The broad and ambitious aim of the Encyclopédie was to gather together the collected knowledge of the world into a single work. As a result, some of greatest French minds of the age were contributors, including d'Alembert, Rousseau, and Voltaire. The Encyclopédie played an important role in the development of French intellectual fervour in the lead up to the Revolution. The 17 volumes of articles were accompanied by 11 volumes of illustrative plates, the majority of which were executed by Robert Bénard after drawings by Louis-Jacques Goussier. Condition: Vertical and horizontal folds, as issued. Trimmed to platemark on all sides. Chips and staining to edges of sheet. Stains from old adhesive tape to verso, otherwise blank. |
| Framing | unmounted |
| Price | £375.00 |
| Stock ID | 53463 |