Jacques-Nicolas Bellin
Bay of All Saints, 1764
9 x 7 1/2 in
23 x 19 cm
23 x 19 cm
SAM3500
Carte de la Baye de Tous Les Saints A small map of the Bay of All Saints in the province of Bahia in northern Brazil. North is oriented to...
Carte de la Baye de Tous Les Saints
A small map of the Bay of All Saints in the province of Bahia in northern Brazil. North is oriented to the right of the sheet.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin was one of the greatest 18th century map makers. He specialised in hydrography and was appointed to the French Hydrographic office at the young age of 18 in 1721. Twenty years later he was named the first “Ingenieur de la Marine” for the “Depot des Cartes et Plans de la Marine” as well as Hydrographer to Louis XV of France. Over a fifty year career, he published a multitude of important maps often from first hand sources provided by naval officers, merchants and government sources. His level of access was extraordinary. As well as publishing his own atlases, he was a contributor to many seminal French works on exploration, including Abbee Raynal’s “Histoire des Deux Indes”, Abbee Prevost’s “Histoire Generale des Voyages” and Pierre de Charlevoix’s “Histoire et Description Generale de la Nouvelle France”.
In 1762, Bellin decided to publish one of his most popular and accessible works: “Le Petit Atlas Maritime”. The work came out in 1764 in five volumes and proved extremely popular. Many of the maps were reduced versions which Bellin had either contributed or published previously. The five volumes usually contain between 575 and 590 maps with variations noted between individual examples. As the preparation took only two years, it is very likely that Bellin had a majority of these copper plates already available. The initial financial support for the atlas was from Etienne-Francois, Duc de Choiseul, a highly placed French politician who was credited for strengthening both the army and navy. Due to its accessibility, he perceived the ”Petit Atlas Maritime” as a method of publicising both the work of the “Depot de la Marine” and the Navy to the general public. Bellin includes a long dedication to Choiseul on the front of each volume.
For collectors today, the work presents one of the widest selection of extremely desirable smaller maps. They provide clear, concise and attractive geographical records of some of the most inaccessible and exotic areas of the world in the mid-18th century. Bellin was part of a group called “Les Philosophes”, the French counterpart to the pioneers of the English Age of Reason and his maps are a lasting legacy from the Age of French Enlightenment.
The map is extremely detailed, showing depths, shoals and areas hazardous to shipping as well as the many small settlements dotted around the coast. The main entrance to the Bay is defended by the Forts of St. Philippe and de Mer, while the Isle Taporica or the modern Ilha Itaparica bears no less than a concentration of four forts on its northern tip; it was one of the wealthiest regions in Brazil and heavily defended.
It is difficult to track down the exact source which Bellin used for this little map; however, there were detailed maps of the Bay ever since the Dutch invaded it in the mid 17th century with a notable map produced by the mapmaker Joan Blaeu although that map is very different.
This map is oriented with north showing to the right.
Original colour. [SAM3500]
A small map of the Bay of All Saints in the province of Bahia in northern Brazil. North is oriented to the right of the sheet.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin was one of the greatest 18th century map makers. He specialised in hydrography and was appointed to the French Hydrographic office at the young age of 18 in 1721. Twenty years later he was named the first “Ingenieur de la Marine” for the “Depot des Cartes et Plans de la Marine” as well as Hydrographer to Louis XV of France. Over a fifty year career, he published a multitude of important maps often from first hand sources provided by naval officers, merchants and government sources. His level of access was extraordinary. As well as publishing his own atlases, he was a contributor to many seminal French works on exploration, including Abbee Raynal’s “Histoire des Deux Indes”, Abbee Prevost’s “Histoire Generale des Voyages” and Pierre de Charlevoix’s “Histoire et Description Generale de la Nouvelle France”.
In 1762, Bellin decided to publish one of his most popular and accessible works: “Le Petit Atlas Maritime”. The work came out in 1764 in five volumes and proved extremely popular. Many of the maps were reduced versions which Bellin had either contributed or published previously. The five volumes usually contain between 575 and 590 maps with variations noted between individual examples. As the preparation took only two years, it is very likely that Bellin had a majority of these copper plates already available. The initial financial support for the atlas was from Etienne-Francois, Duc de Choiseul, a highly placed French politician who was credited for strengthening both the army and navy. Due to its accessibility, he perceived the ”Petit Atlas Maritime” as a method of publicising both the work of the “Depot de la Marine” and the Navy to the general public. Bellin includes a long dedication to Choiseul on the front of each volume.
For collectors today, the work presents one of the widest selection of extremely desirable smaller maps. They provide clear, concise and attractive geographical records of some of the most inaccessible and exotic areas of the world in the mid-18th century. Bellin was part of a group called “Les Philosophes”, the French counterpart to the pioneers of the English Age of Reason and his maps are a lasting legacy from the Age of French Enlightenment.
The map is extremely detailed, showing depths, shoals and areas hazardous to shipping as well as the many small settlements dotted around the coast. The main entrance to the Bay is defended by the Forts of St. Philippe and de Mer, while the Isle Taporica or the modern Ilha Itaparica bears no less than a concentration of four forts on its northern tip; it was one of the wealthiest regions in Brazil and heavily defended.
It is difficult to track down the exact source which Bellin used for this little map; however, there were detailed maps of the Bay ever since the Dutch invaded it in the mid 17th century with a notable map produced by the mapmaker Joan Blaeu although that map is very different.
This map is oriented with north showing to the right.
Original colour. [SAM3500]
