DESCRIPTION: SOLD
Two antique French nautical charts of the Bahamas and Antilles islands. Dated to 1775 within both title cartouches and attributed to French Naval Captain Jean Rene-Antoine Verdun De La Crenne (1741-1805), Alexandre Guy Pingre, and Jean-Charles de Borda.
Both copper-plate engraved charts printed in a single impression on one large sheet of heavy wove paper. Soundings and navigational hazards noted on the charts attest to their expected use aboard ships of the French Navy.
Lower chart includes eastern Cuba (including Baracoa); the eastern Bahama islands; the Turks (les iles Turques) and Caicos Islands (Gran de Cayque de Nord); and the northwest portion of the island of Hispaniola (partie de l'Ile de St. Dominque). Within the Bahamas coverage includes part of Long Island, Rum Cay, (Wattelin) San Salvador Island, Crooked Island, Mayaguana, Little Inagua Island, and Inagua Island.
Upper chart of the Lesser Antilles extends from eastern Puerto Rico through the Leeward and Windward Islands. Coverage includes the Virgin Islands with Saint Croix, Saint John, and Saint Thomas; and the islands of St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts, Barbuda, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Marie-Galante, la Desirade, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Vincent.The Depot de la Marine was established in 1720 under the French Ministry of the Navy to collect, preserve, and publish nautical charts, sailing directions, and maritime intelligence for the French naval service. Its purpose was both archival and practical: to centralize geographic knowledge gathered from voyages, surveys, and colonial administration, and to convert that information into standardized charts for navigation. Over the eighteenth century the Depot became the principal hydrographic authority of France, issuing engraved sea charts that incorporated data from naval expeditions, colonial outposts, and scientific voyages.
Following the French Revolution, the institution was reorganized and its chart production expanded, particularly during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as global maritime competition intensified. The Depot de la Marine supervised official surveys, revised earlier charts, and maintained copperplates for continued reissue as coastal knowledge improved. In 1886 it was formally reorganized as the Service hydrographique de la Marine, the predecessor of today’s French hydrographic office. Charts bearing the Depot imprint remain important records of French naval activity, colonial expansion, and the technical development of European hydrography.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1775
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Caribbean
BODY OF WATER: Caribbean Sea
CONDITION: Very Good.
Very clean and bright. Good margins and no condition issues. On strong, watermarked paper with a single horizontal fold and prominent platemark.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: Petit
SIZE: 20
" x
34 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0
PRICE: $
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