DESCRIPTION: SOLD
Large antique mid 18th century French nautical chart of the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence. Published by the French Depot des Cartes, Plans et Journaux de la Marine in 1754, this variant example of the chart does not contain an attribution to J.N. Bellin, uncovering Pinquin ( Penguin ) Island in the space previously occupied by the cartouche.
Includes the Island of Newfoundland ( Isle de Terre-Neuve ) with the town of St. John ( St. Jean ), Anticosti Island, the Grand Banks, and Isle Royale. Very interesting is the addition of several very small manuscript? annotations to the chart very near to the Islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre- the only two French possessions in the area. The annotations include the addition of a name to a very small island "Isle Verte" (Green Island) and the overwriting / obscuring of the name for one of the headlands- "le Chapeau Rouge'.
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: 1754
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Canada
BODY OF WATER: Gulf of St. Lawrence
CONDITION: Good.
On heavy wove paper with wide margins. 2" wide vertical strip at the centerfold is slightly tanned. Several small repaired marginal tears, one extending 1" past the lower platemark. One tiny 1/4" hole at the center bottom platemark, barely visible.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER:
SIZE: 33
" x
21 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 0
PRICE: $
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