Michelot and Bremond
1727

Plan de la Baye de Gibraltar

DESCRIPTION: An attractive and scarce antique copperplate large scale chart of the bay and peninsula of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory. Contains detail on the fortifications and numerous guard towers in the area. Numerous soundings, anchorages, and navigation hazards are noted. Hand colored compass rose. Algeciras is labeled "Vieux Gibraltar". Other noted locations include the old and new quay (mole), Cap Carnero, Plaine de St. Roch and the Ville et Mt. Gibraltar (Rock of Gibraltar).

This plan was produced in 1727 by French hydrographers and galley pilot Henry Michelot and Laurens Bremond . This old chart of Gibraltar is one of a handful of Michelot and Bremond charts that were copied by Thomas Kitchin and others for more than 30 years and it should be a part of any serious collection of maps from that region.

Engraved by one of the finest engravers of the time, Peter Starckman. Carries the sellers information: " Ce Vend chez Laurens Bremond sur le Port a Marseilles a coin de Reboul." Published with the royal privilege.

Henry Michelot and Laurens Bremond

Henri Michelot was an early eighteenth century French cartographer with a close connection to the sea. He described himself as Hydrographer and Pilot of the Galere Royale (Royal Galley), and was associated with a corps of approximately forty galleys (galeres), oared sailing vessels operating in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast. In the Mediterranean, these galleys were based primarily at the naval arsenal in Marseilles, France. They were typically rigged with triangular Mediterranean lateen sails, a configuration well suited to coastal navigation and variable winds.

Bookseller and royal hydrographer Laurent Bremond, styled “Hydrographe du Roi et de la Ville,” sold charts and maritime books from his establishment in Marseille, located near the port at the corner of Reboul Street (“au Coin de Reboul”). Bremond played a key role in the commercial distribution of nautical knowledge, supplying working mariners as well as official and institutional clients.

The collaborative output of Michelot and Bremond, produced roughly between 1715 and 1730, included an atlas of sixteen small-scale charts, a port book containing thirty-seven large-scale charts, and a Mediterranean coast pilot titled Portulan de la Mer Mediterranee, ou Guide des Pilotes Cotiers. Issued in multiple languages and published in editions extending at least to 1805, this body of work became a primary source of navigational information for the Mediterranean for many decades. The charts of Michelot and Bremond were highly influential and were frequently copied by later chartmakers, including Kitchin and Roux.

CREATOR: Michelot and Bremond

PUBLICATION DATE: 1727

GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United Kingdom

BODY OF WATER: Mediterranean

CONDITION: Very good. Paper only very slightly tanned but strong with good platemark. Strong impression.

COLORING: Modern detailed color on the compass rose.

ENGRAVER: P. Starck-man

SIZE: 10 " x 7 "

ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 4

PRICE: $300

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