La Perouse in L'Astrolabe and La Boussole

During the second half of the 18th century, a number of major expeditions to the Pacific by French and British explorers revealed previously unknown population settlements and their different customs. James Cook undoubtedly contributed the greatest discoveries, but French explorers also contributed greatly to western knowledge of the Pacific region.

The French Admiralty, supported by the King (Louis XVI), sent the distinguished naval commander and oceanographer, Jean-Francois de Galaup, Comte de La Perouse (1741-1788). He was to undertake a four year expedition to continue the exploration of the Pacific that had been so widely travelled by Captain Cook until his death in the Hawaiian Islands in 1779. Between 1785 and 1788 La Perouse sailed with two ships, the Boussole and the Astrolabe.

La Perouse travelled via Teneriffe, Brazil, Chile, Easter Island, and from the Spanish missions in California to the north-west coast and the Hawaiian Islands. He crossed the Pacific to the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Korea, and north to Tartary and Kamchatka. La Perouse sent despatches of discoveries as he travelled, so that news was received back in France. After receiving new instructions, the ships sailed south to the Samoan group of islands and on to Botany Bay in New South Wales, Australia.

La Perouse arrived at Botany Bay on 26th January 1788, just as Governor Phillip and the First Fleet were establishing the 

British settlement at Port Jackson. On 10th March La Perouse left to continue his travels, but was never heard from again. When no reports were received in France, the Government sent an expedition in search of La Perouse - during 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1794. The disappearance of La Perouse, 220 crew, and the French frigates Boussole and Astrolabe remained a mystery for nearly forty years.

Compiling the information and illustrations from the journals that La Perouse had sent back from their ports of call, in 1798 Voyage de La Perouse Autour du Monde (Voyage of La Perouse Around the World) was published as an account of his expedition. The charting of La Perouse, his discoveries of native settlements and their customs, as well as technical and graphic reports by the artists and scientists on board his ships provided a wealth of new information - particularly in the Pacific.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the voyages of discovery of new lands the other side of the world were so avidly followed back in Europe that they appeared in a number of publications of other explorers. Jules Sebastien Cesar Dumont d'Urville (1790-1842), was a French naval officer who combined engravings from the drawings by official expedition artist Louis Auguste de Sainson (1801-1887), with sketches and engravings from previous voyages. Voyages Pittoresque Autour du Monde (Picturesque Voyages Around the World) comprised "a general resume of the voyages of the discoveries of Magellan, Tasman, Dampier, Anson, Byron, Wallis, Carteret, Bougainville, Cook, LaPerouse, G. Bligh, Vancouver, D'Entrecasteaux, Wilson, Baudin, Flinders, Krunsenstern, Porter, Kotzebue, Freycinet, Bellinghausen, Basil Hall, Duperrey, Paulding, Dumont d'Urville, Lutke, Dillon, Laplace, Morrel, etc." It was published in Paris in 1834-1835, under the direction of d'Urville.

Rare early engravings of the intrepid explorers' discoveries in the Pacific are to be found on our website at http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/c-64-views-nzpngpacific.aspx

French Cartography - simply decorative

Unlike any other country (perhaps with the exception of England), there is a wide choice of decorative antique maps of the different counties or départements of France. http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/c-14-french-departments.aspx The French are unsurpassed in their artistic inclination. While the maps of Levasseur (featured in a previous Blog) are undoubtedly the most intricate and informative cartographic representation of any country, there were many other French mapmakers who produced elegant and informative maps of the départements of France - particularly during the 19th century.

The most imaginative of these were published in Paris circa 1834. Small maps of each department were drawn by Aristede-Michel Perrot and beautifully engraved by Blanchard. Each map showed a department surrounded by a composite of small illustrations of the region's produce and industry - sometimes presenting the map as drawn on the hide of an animal. [Aveyron, Perrot c1834]
Elegant maps by Lorrain were engraved by Dandeleux and Chullier for Atlas Departemental La France et ses Colonies published at Versailles circa 1836 by Andrieux and Barreswil. Charles Monin's maps published around the same time, concentrated on the geography of the department, but were still enhanced by a vignette of an important scene. In the 1870s, maps by Alexandre Vuillemin were strongly engraved and decorated by a cluster of vignettes of major towns, ancient ruins, coats of arms, and head studies of important historical, literary, or royal personages. [Nord, Vuillemin c1870]
Earlier maps, for example those for Atlas Historique et Geographique (Atlas of History and Geography) published in Paris circa 1770 by Louis Charles Desnos (1725-1805), were engraved by Cartographer Royal to the King of France, Brion de la Tour, and embellished by a simple cartouche (title piece) simply surrounded by representative scenery instead of the more usual cartouche scroll, but containing information about the history of the region and the mapmaker. [Les Gouvernemens de Poitou, de Berri, de Bourbonnois, et de Nivernois. Desnos, c1770] We have a wide selection of the departments of France, from the early17th century on. Select from our website at http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/c-14-french-departments.aspx 

French Cartography: Superb and Decorative

A French cartographer’s superb world map (Henri Chatelain, circa 1718).
Carte tres curieuse de la Mer du Sud, contenant des remarques nouvelles et tres utiles.. (Very curious map of the Southern Seas, containing new and very useful remarks..)

A very special map, this is one of the largest and most magnificent world maps ever produced. Created by Henri Abraham Chatelain (1684-1743), a Huguenot pastor from Paris, assisted by his father and brother (both Zacharie Chatelain), for Chatelain’s "Atlas Historique, ou Nouvelle Introduction a l’Histoire, a la Chronologie et Moderne", published in Amsterdam between 1705 and 1720. Four large copperplate engravings were joined to create this superb map. The definition of the engraving is beautifully enhanced by the fine hand-colour, to provide a vivid narration of exploration, customs, and beliefs at that time.

The engraved coastlines were based on earlier charts by the eminent French cartographer Guillaume Delisle (1675-1726). Australia is a little mis-shapen and incomplete, but overall the map is relatively geographically correct for the time - except that it still shows California as an island which had been disproved by the date of publication, but is a fascinating concept. The strong definition of the engraving is beautifully enhanced by the fine hand-colour, to provide a vivid narration of exploration, customs, and beliefs at that time. 

The map shows Niagara Falls, a sugar mill, beavers building, bear hunting, turtle fishing, cod fish drying, other fauna and flora, native customs, the attack of Cortés on Veracruz, missionaries, explorers, medallion portraits, important islands, ports and town plans, ships on the sea, the commercial routes of the period, and explorers’ routes, with the names and routes of significant expeditions. With its absorbing and unusual engravings of cosmography, geography, history, genealogy, heraldry, portraits, topography, and regional costumes, accompanied by descriptions of regional activities, this map is a brilliant visual representation of discovery and commerce - particularly in the New World - prior to being fully and accurately charted.

This map is available as currently framed in conservation materials, or unframed for shipment. Further images are available if required. http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/c-3-americascanada.aspx

The engraved map measures approximately 32 inches x 56 inches (82 x 143 cm). 

French Cartography: Creatively Decorative..

French Département maps

Fortunately, an over-active imagination is not the only creative talent for which French cartographers are known. They are also famous for their ornate decoration. Some of the most elaborately decorated maps ever made are Victor Levasseur’s maps of the French départements.

A French engineer and geographer, Levasseur flourished as a mapmaker between 1838 and 1854. His département maps are easily recognisable. For his grand Atlas National Illustre, published in Paris circa 1854, he surrounded each département map with a beautifully engraved narrative of the region, including illustrations of produce, commerce, coats of arms, local landmarks, peasants in costume, historically important people and scrolls of statistics.One of the most beautiful of all his maps is this map of the department of Gironde published in Paris circa 1852. Vew it on our website at
http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/p-36-gironde-aquitaine-france-department-beautiful-antique-map-levasseur-c1852.aspx

French Cartography - Creativity of Coastlines..

There are few things as fascinating and evocative as an antique map. Unlike the highly functional maps of today, maps used to be decorative works of art, that not only portrayed a country's geography but also its culture and history.

In the case of many French mapmakers, the portrayal of a region on a map, was often an indication of where it was made! A number of French cartographers had a reputation for a fairly creative approach to the art of making maps. One of the best known examples of this kind of map (and the map that is probably best known in Australia), is undoubtedly the mid-18th century map by the Hydrographical Engineer of the French Navy, Hydrographer to the King, and member of the Royal Society of London, Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772). Bellin was commissioned by the King of France to survey all the known coastlines of the world. 

On his Cartes Reduite des Terres Australes (Reduced Chart of the Southern Lands) map of Australia (Nouvelle Hollande as it was then known) Bellin used a dotted line to join Tasmania to Vanuata (Espritu Santu) and Papua New Guinea.

His supposition 'followed European thought of the time' - 20 years before Captain Cook's discovery and charting of the east coast and named it New South Wales. At least Bellin printed along the wavy dotted line (in French) "I suppose that Van Diemen's Land could join with the Land of the Holy Ghost, but without proof.."  This will always be one of my favourite antique maps! http://www.antiqueprintclub.com/c-9-australianzng.aspx