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Pierre Mortier: Carte Particuliere de l'Isle Dauphine ou Madagasca et St. Laurens

Map: tempMid
 
Cartographer: Pierre Mortier
Title: Carte Particuliere de l'Isle Dauphine ou Madagasca et St. Laurens
Date: 1708
Published: Amsterdam
Width: 32 inches / 82 cm
Height: 22 inches / 56 cm
Map ref: AFR6072
Description:
This important and beautiful chart of modern Madagascar also called the Isle de Dauphine and San Lorenzo is one of the largest and finest atlas maps of the island.

This important and beautiful chart of modern Madagascar also called the Isle de Dauphine and San Lorenzo is one of the largest and finest atlas maps of the island. Magnificent original hand colour.

Notoriously, it was not just traders who found the island strategically situated. Its more elusive bays also acted as bases for pirates with the island becoming an important navigational feature in the route known as “The Pirate Round” used by pirates from all over the world to prey on the rich convoys travelling from India and the Far East.

The “Neptune Francois” was first issued simultaneously in Paris and Amsterdam by Hubert Jaillot and Pierre Mortier respectively in 1693. The project was highly successful and Mortier developed the Atlas by adding two more sections or volumes to it. The first, Vol II was also issued in 1693 and consisted of a set of charts provided by the noted Dutch artist Romeyn de Hooghe. Collectively these are known as the “ Cartes Marines a l’Usage des Armees du Roy de Grande Bretagne” and were originally drawn for William III of Great Britain. De Hooghe was primarily an artist and his charts bear a distinctive pictorial aspect. They have become renowned for their aesthetics, being cited as the most beautiful set of charts ever published. Volume III added in 1700, entitled “Suite de Neptune” concentrated on charts outside of French territory, including maps of the New World, the West Indies, South East Asia and the Indian Ocean among others.

Mortier’s edition was a prestige work. Later scholars have found that his book was the most expensive sea atlas produced in Amsterdam up to that time. On the rare occasions that an example of one of the maps in full original colour can be obtained, it is easily perceived why this work is cited as one of the finest and most spectacular atlases ever produced.

Magnificent original hand colour. [AFR6072] (BC)
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