Essay d’une Carte Réduite Contenant les parties connuees du Globe Terrestre. Dedié A M. Le Comte de Maurepas, Commandeur des Ordes du Roy / Ministre et Secretaire d’Etat. par N. Bellin, Ingénieur ordinre de la Marine. 1748

Description

copper engraving. RARE.

Large world map in four parts from “Histoire Générale des Voyages, ou nouvelle collection de toutes les relations de voyages par mer et par terre, qui ont ete publiees jusqu’a present dans les differentes langues de toutes les nations connues”. This is part of an expansive work that referenced China, the East Indies, Asia, the Americas, early Australian voyages, New Guinea, Palau Islands, Africa, and voyages in the Pacific including those of Magellan, Schouten, and Le Maire, Drake, Sarmiento, Cavendish, Spilbergen, Narborough, Rogers, Cowley, Frazier, and Anson. The work included particularly full accounts are given of the Dutch and French voyages to the East Indies, voyages to China, and the British East India Company’s voyages to India and Ceylon. (Hill).

An elegant rococo cartouche in the lower left quadrant frames the title and attributes the work to Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703–1772) in his capacity as Ingénieur de la Marine. Bellin was among the most important and prolific mapmakers of the 18th century; appointed hydrographer to the French Navy in 1721 at the age of 18, he later became Official Hydrographer of the French King and the First Ingénieur de la Marine of the French Hydrographic Office, turning the Dépôt into the centre for publishing major sea charts such as the ‘Neptune François’, the ‘Atlas Maritime’, and the ‘Hydrographie Françoise’.

Antoine-François Prévost d’Exiles (1697–1763), known as the Abbé Prévost, was a prolific French author, novelist, and priest. He is best known for the novel ‘Manon Lescaut’ and the multi-volume ‘Histoire générale des voyages’. His life was marked by a tumultuous journey between military service, religious orders (Jesuits and Benedictines), and periods living abroad, particularly in England.