Mappemonde a l‘usage l‘instr.on par Guillaume Delisle et Philippe Buache Premiers Géographes et de l‘Acad‘emie des Sciences. Revue et augmentée des N les Découvertes par Dezauche en 1790
circa 1790
Later hand-coloured copper engraving on paper
18.75 x 26.5 in (47.5 x 67.5 cm)
Very decorative double-hemisphere world map by French cartographers Guillaume de L'Isle and Philippe Buache. This map was part of the interesting atlas Atlas géographique des quatre parties du monde, printed during the French Revolution (1789-1799)
The title is displayed on a long ribbon, with the Sun King's visage spectacularly beaming through the clouds. The map portrays the world at the end of the Age of Discovery and the start of the great period of scientific discovery, which began with the French trips to Bougainville in 1766-9 and La Perouse in 1785. D'Entrecasteaux 1791-94, Baudin 1800-4, Freycinet 1817-20, and D'Urville 1826-9 quickly followed. In the bottom centre is an ornately framed cartouche with a note indicating that this new globe map reflects the latest discoveries made during James Cook's three trips. Australia is depicted with a fictitious southern coast and Tasmania connected to the continent.
The Trial Islands, near Dampier, were named after the English ship the Trial, which was destroyed in 1622 and remained mistakenly positioned on maps for two centuries. Cook circumnavigated and mapped the coast of New Zealand on his first journey, 1768-1771, proving that the continent identified by Tasman in 1642 was not connected to a larger southern mainland. He then went west, finding and mapping Australia's east coast.
Cook was tasked with searching for Terra Australis Incognita on his second trip, 1772-1780, going as far south as the 71 parallel, making him the first person to cross the Antarctic Circle and disproving the existence of Terra Australis. He also explored the Pacific extensively. Cook discovered the Hawaiian Islands in 1778 and then sailed north along the west coast of America in pursuit of the elusive northwest route that the English Admiralty had long sought. When he couldn't discover the paragraph, he rightly concluded that it didn't exist. The map features an intriguing oddity near the west coast of modern-day Canada, the place name Fousang des Chinois, which refers to a country described by the Chinese Buddhist Hui Shen in 499AD as being some 8000km east of China. During the eighteenth century, the French Orientalist Joseph de Guignes argued that Shen had visited the Americas, a hypothesis that sparked much dispute in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
From Atlas geographique des quatre parties du monde, Dezauche Geographe, Successeurdes Srs. De Lisle et Phil Bauche 1ers. Geographe du Roi, Rue des Noyers.
When Guillaume De Lisle died in 1726, Philippe Buache succeeded him and revised many of his maps. Buache died in 1773, and was succeeded by Dezauche.
L'Isle was the preeminent French map maker of the 18th century, and his maps were recognised for their accuracy. He trained under Jean Cassini and showed his skill from an early age. Delisle was admitted to the Academie Royale des Sciences at the age of 27 and was appointed Royal Geographer by 1718. His maps illustrate his scientific approach to map building by using the most recent cartographic data as well as the usage of fresh astronomy data. When he couldn't confirm facts firmly, he'd make a note of it on his maps.
Jean-Claude Dezauche was a French map publisher who lived from 1780 until 1838. Initially, he specialised in music engraving, but he eventually shifted his concentration to cartography. He is well known for revising and reissuing the maps of Guilluame De L'Isle and Philippe Buache, two of the eighteenth century's most proficient mapmakers. In 1780, he purchased the plates of these two men's work from Buache's successor, Jean-Nicolas Buache. Dezauche's company was boosted further when he was granted the right to market the Dépôt de la Marine's charts. Jean-Andre Dezauche, his son, took over the family company.
This work will be shipped unframed
NON-EXPORTABLE