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Jacques-Nicolas Bellin
Valparaiso, Chile, 1764
9 x 7 1/2 in
23 x 19 cm
23 x 19 cm
SAM3499
£ 325.00
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, Valparaiso, Chile, 1764
Sold
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Plan du Port de Valparaiso This small chart shows the harbour and port of Valparaiso, on the coast of Chile while still under Spanish rule. Jacques-Nicolas Bellin was one...
Plan du Port de Valparaiso
This small chart shows the harbour and port of Valparaiso, on the coast of Chile while still under Spanish rule.
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 beautiful natural harbour of Coquimbo is now a lauded tourist destination for both Chileans and Argentinians. In the mid to late 18th century, the main settlement was La Serena, a favourite target for privateers and pirates due to the wealth of the area.
Oddly, this map does not bear a resemblance to either the surveys of earlier French scientist/spies, Amedee Frezier or Louis Feuillee. Its source seems to be the survey performed by Admiral Jose Alfonso Pizarro, who initially sailed in vain pursuit of George Anson in 1740 and having failed stop him from reaching the Pacific due to bad weather, left his damaged fleet in Montevideo and crossed South America on foot to Peru. Once he reached the Pacific coast, he became the naval commander in that region and proceeded to map parts of the coast. He returned to Cadiz in 1746, having survived an attempted mutiny by native South Americans present on his flagship on the high seas.
This map strongly differs from the earlier French surveys and Bellin felt he was using the most recent source in Pizarro.
Original colour. [SAM3499]
This small chart shows the harbour and port of Valparaiso, on the coast of Chile while still under Spanish rule.
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 beautiful natural harbour of Coquimbo is now a lauded tourist destination for both Chileans and Argentinians. In the mid to late 18th century, the main settlement was La Serena, a favourite target for privateers and pirates due to the wealth of the area.
Oddly, this map does not bear a resemblance to either the surveys of earlier French scientist/spies, Amedee Frezier or Louis Feuillee. Its source seems to be the survey performed by Admiral Jose Alfonso Pizarro, who initially sailed in vain pursuit of George Anson in 1740 and having failed stop him from reaching the Pacific due to bad weather, left his damaged fleet in Montevideo and crossed South America on foot to Peru. Once he reached the Pacific coast, he became the naval commander in that region and proceeded to map parts of the coast. He returned to Cadiz in 1746, having survived an attempted mutiny by native South Americans present on his flagship on the high seas.
This map strongly differs from the earlier French surveys and Bellin felt he was using the most recent source in Pizarro.
Original colour. [SAM3499]
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