JODE, Gerard de
Portugalliae Portugalliae Quae
Olim Lusitania Vernando Alvaro
Secco Autore Recens Descriptio.
Publication
Antwerp, Gerard Smits, 1578.
Description
Double page engraved map.
Dimensions 315 by 525mm (12.5 by 20.75 inches).
References Koeman Jod II; Van der Krogt 32:01; Shirley T.JOD-1b.
£1,500.00
A detailed map of Portugal, oriented to the west. Gerard de Jode (1509–1591), cartographer, engraver and publisher, lived and worked in Antwerp. In 1547 he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke and began his work as a publisher and print seller. He often printed the works of other cartographers, including Gastaldi’s map of the world in 1555, Jacob van Deventer’s map of Brabant in 1558, Ortelius’ eight-sheet map of the world in 1564, and maps by Bartholomeus Musinus and Fernando Alvares Seco.
His most outstanding work was his atlas ‘Speculum Orbis Terrarum’ published in 1578. De Jode intended it as competition for Orteliu’s ‘Theatrum’. The two, who made their living partly as mapsellers, were competitors and apparently not always on good terms. It has been suggested that Ortelius was responsible for delaying the publication of de Jode’s work, by using his extensive contacts to prevent de Jode’s atlas being granted the necessary approbations (or privileges), as Ortelius wished to protect his own work. De Jode did not gain all the necessary approbations until 1577, some seven years after the publication of the ‘Theatrum’, the first copies of the ‘Speculum’ being sold at Plantin’s shop in 1579.
Ortelius’ plan would seem to have worked, as Plantin’s records suggest that very few copies were actually sold. After Gerard’s death in 1591, his son published a revised and enlarged edition of 1593, which fared just as badly as the first edition. Although sales of de Jode’s work were less than ideal, the work was evidently held in high regard with several contemporary works citing its importance alongside the atlases of Mercator and Ortelius.
CAMOENS, Luis de
[Untitled World Map].
Publication Madrid, 1639.
Description Woodblock map, with Spanish text beneath and on verso.
Dimensions 415 by 305mm (16.25 by 12 inches).
References Shirley 347.
£10,000.00
This double-hemisphere world map appeared in the 1639 Madrid edition of the famous epic poem, ‘Os Lusiadas’, originally published in Portuguese by Luis Vaz de Camoens in 1572. The poem is a fantastical interpretation of the Portuguese voyages of discovery during the fifteenth and and sixteenth centuries, which are the world map helps to illustrate. Both the voyages of Magellan and Ludovico di Varthema (Lud. Vartomano) are mentioned in text on the the Great Southern continent.
The geography is rather crude and outdated, compared to the Dutch maps that were being produced in the first half of the seventeenth century, and is more in tune with the work of the early to mid sixteenth century. The geographical features include a huge Tierra del Fuego, enlarged depictions of both the Amazon and River Plate in South America, and the Niger river in Africa; a massive Southern Continent dominates the lower part of the map, incorporating New Guinea (Nueva Guinea)with the coastal names of Beach and Lucach noted from Marco Polo’s travel memoirs.
Although the geography is somewhat outdated, Spanish printed world maps - due the authorities’ suppression of any new cartographic information - are particularly rare: Shirley records only three other world maps published in Spain during the seventeenth century.
JANSSONIUS, Johannes
La Villa de Madrid Corte de Los Reyes Catolicos de Espanna.
Publication [Amsterdam, 1657].
Description
Engraved map on two sheets joined, handcoloured, minor loss to old folds, skilfully repaired, backed on japan paper.
Dimensions 470 by 720mm (18.5 by 28.25 inches).
References Van der Krogt: 2557 Madrid:42.1.
£5,000.00
Fine example of Janssonius bird’s-eye view of Madrid, published in his ‘Theatrum In quo visuntur Illustriores Hispaniae Urbes, Aliaeque Ad Orientem & Austrum Civitates celebriores’ (1657).
Regarded as the earliest known bird’s-eye view of Madrid, it has been suggested that the work is based upon a lost map of the Spanish capital produced by Antonio Manzelli around 1622, although this attribution is rejected by Felipe Pereda on the grounds of chronology, since some of the buildings depicted were not built until the 1630s. Jose-Manuel Barbeito has explained these anachronisms as resulting from the use of designs by the architect Juan Gomez de Mora to depict buildings that would be completed years later, in some cases following different designs.
The Bay of Alfaques near Tortosa in Valencia, Drawn by Capt Doleman in Jan. 1705/6.
Publication
London, Richard Mount, c.1706.
Description Engraved map.
Dimensions
250 by 358mm (9.75 by 14 inches).
£500.00
Captain Doleman was an officer in the English Royal Navy, serving with the Navy off the coast of Valencia during the Spanish campaign of 1705/1706; the ‘Post Boy’ (issue 1597) for 6th - 9th April 1706 records his capture of a supply ship, detailed in a report by the Surgeon General serving with the Earl of Peterborough’s army, “Valencia, Feb. 6,... The Enemy retired about 3 leagues from us, I suppose in expectation to be joyned by 250 men, 6 pieces of Cannon, 150 Barrels of Powder, and Shot proportionable which was coming to them by Sea; but the Lyme Man of War, Capt. Doleman, Commander, had the good Fortune to meet and take them, and carried them into Denia....”.
This small chart of Alfaques Bay was evidently compiled about this time and given (or sold) to the London chart-publisher, Richard Mount, senior partner of Mount and Page; it may be that members of the armed services supplemented their pay by providing publishable materials to the private publishers in London.
The plate was later used in ‘The English Pilot. Part III’ Describing the sea coasts, capes, head-lands, bays, roads, harbours, rivers and ports, together with the soundings, sands, rocks and dangers in the whole Mediterranean...; it seems likely that the chart was added to the 1711 edition, but a copy of that edition has not been examined; it certainly appears in the 1716 edition.
However, the plate for this separate printing shows marked differences; for ‘The English Pilot’ the printing plate was severely cut-down, so the upper platemark is just above ‘Alfaques’, removing ‘The Bay of’. The left-hand margin was been brought in so only the last five letters of ‘Binecarlo’ remain, necessitating the re-engraving of the scale bar, while the lower platemark touches the edge of the sand bank along the southern side of the harbour.
The descriptive text printed below, penned by Doleman, gives sailing directions for the bay suitable for a wartime context, quite different from the text in ‘The English Pilot’ which is more merchant marine in emphasis. Alfaques, although a fairly shallow natural anchorage, was considered a good place to shelter from high winds, and convenient as sited almost equidistant between Barcelona and Valencia - about eighty nautical miles from each.
Barcelona had fallen to the English in 1705, after a siege lasting from 14th September to 19th October; it was besieged by a Franco-Spanish force from 3rd to 27th April, 1706, but English command of the sea enabled the city to be resupplied from the sea, while the siege was broken when Sir John Leake arrived with his squadron, carrying reinforcements.
Plentiful atlas locations, but the pre-atlas version otherwise unrecorded.
OVERTON, Henry (I) & HOOLE, John
A Map of the Coast of Spain, from the Streights of Gibralter to the Gulf of Cartagena. S. Parker sculpt. Sold by H: Overton and I. Hoole at the White | Horse without Newgate London.
[and]: A New PLAN of the Garrison of GIBRALTER, with its fortifications &c. 1726.
Publication London, Henry Overton (I) and John Hoole, 1727.
Description
Two engraved maps printed on a single sheet.
Dimensions
445 by 552mm (17.5 by 21.75 inches).
References COPAC records only one example of the second state, in the British Library.
£1,800.00
Very scarce composite sheet depicting Gibraltar from the siege of 1727; the sheet bears a general map of the south-eastern coast of Spain from Seville and Cadiz to Cartagena, with an inset of the Straits of Gibraltar (194 x 469 mm); printed below, from a second plate, is a plan of Gibraltar’s fortifications (195 x 471 mm).
The partnership of Overton and Hoole can be dated, from newspaper advertisements located thus far, from 6th August, 1724 to 8th - 10th May, 1733. A joint catalogue, dated 1734, probably denotes the partners’ attempts to liquidate their joint assets, although the partnership finally ended with Hoole’s death on 25th December, 1734.
The map of the coast of Spain is here in its first recorded state, with the blank inset frame at bottom right. In the second state, a map of Minorca was inserted there.
MOLL, Herman
A New Map of the Island of Minorca, Port Mahone &c. Taken by General Stanhope the 18 of September 1708, and by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 was together with Gibraltar yielded for ever to the Crown of Great Britain. Sold by H. Moll;
A New and Exact Map of the City and Bay of Gibraltar in Spain taken by S.R G. Rooke Vice-Admiral of England The 24 of Iuly 1704. By H.M.
Publication London, Herman Moll, 1727.
Description
Two engraved maps on one sheet with hand colouring.
Dimensions 212 by 328mm. (8.25 by 13 inches).
£900.00
Very scarce composite plate with separate maps of Minorca (157 x 173 mm) and Gibraltar (110 x 106 mm), the principal acquisitions of the British in the Mediterranean from the Treaty of Utrecht (1713).
It is assumed that the plate was first engraved in 1713 or 1714; the only example of this first state encountered came from the Macclesfield’s collection. The joint imprint of Moll and John King sr. places this printing in the mid-1720s, no doubt during the siege of 1727.
KITCHIN, Thomas
A Chart of the English Channel, Bay of Biscay with Parts of the Ocean and Mediterranean...
Publication London, A. Millar opposite Katherine Street in the Strand, October 1st, 1746.
Description
Engraved chart, original colour in full, with advertisement and sailing directions.
Dimensions 605 by 475mm (23.75 by 18.75 inches).
£2,500.00
Kitchin’s separately issued chart of the English Channel and Europe’s Atlantic Coast
English engraver and cartographer Thomas Kitchin (1718-1784) began his career as an apprentice to Emanuel Bowen, who later became his fatherin-law. By the mid-eighteenth century Kitchin had established his own firm with premises first in Clerkenwell and then in Holborn. Throughout his career, he produced numerous cartographic works including both individual maps and larger atlases, and was made Hydrographer to King George II in 1773.
Among his earliest cartographic output is the present chart showing the waters of the English Channel, St George’s Channel, the Bay of Biscay and the western Mediterranean. To the north and east of the Iberian Peninsula are two compass roses, with 32 lines spanning out from each to show the cardinal and intercardinal directions, as well as smaller divisions. Certain maritime obstacles such as banks and rocks are also identified, particularly in the English Channel. On the land, very many ports, harbours and cities are depicted along the British, Irish, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and North African coasts. The only places identified inland are the national capitals of London, Madrid and Paris.
There are two notes on the chart, that in the lower left-hand corner explaining how the chart could be used in navigation, particularly in calculating the distance between places, and that in the upper right-hand corner, naming the sources Kitchin had used to produce it:
“In the Drawing of this Chart great care has been taken to Collect the best Materials. The Coasts of England from particular Surveys, Maps, Charts &c. The Coast of France from the best Maps and Chart of Delisle & the C. de Maurepas. the Coasts of Spain & Portugal from the several surveys of the Coast Harbours and Islands particularly the Chart Drawn from the Drafts & Plans kept in the Marine Office by order of the C. de Maurepas & the charts of the Mediterranean publish’d by Bremond & Michelot who survey’d most part of them. The coast of Barbary from the same charts improved by Dr. Shaws Maps & Observations in 1739. The principal Cities Ports & Headlands being regulated by Astronl. Observations”.
At this point in his career, Kitchin produced a number of European sea-charts; they were all published separately, and the present example offered for two pence, as stated at the end of the publisher’s imprint. The chart was published by Andrew Millar, who Kitchin would collaborate with throughout his early; most famously in the publication of Mitchell’s ‘A Map of the British and French Dominions in North America’, in 1755.
Unforunately, Kitchin did not have great success with the charts, becoming far better known for his maps and atlases, and thus very few examples of this chart have survived.
Extremely rare: we are able to trace only two institutional examples, held by The British Library and Yale University Library.
BEAURAIN, [Jean de]
Plan de la Ville et du Port Mahon et du Fort St. Philippe Tel qu’il étoit fortifié en 1706 par les Espagnols.
Publication
Paris, Le Chevalier de Beaurain Géographe Ordinaire, [c1756].
Description Engraved map, dissected and laid on linen.
Dimensions 475 by 945mm (18.75 by 37.25 inches).
References Black, ‘Minorca’, (The Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 15. 8th edition., 1858); Coad, ‘Support for the Fleet: architecture and engineering of the Royal Navy’s bases, 17001914’, (Swindon: English Heritage, 2013).
£800.00
This map showing a plan of the city of Mahón on Menorca, near the Catalonian coast, records the area at a key point in its history. The island officially became a British possession in 1713, during the War of Spanish Succession, and subsequently the capital was transferred to Mahón, where the British Governor resided. Around the time this map was produced, the city became involved in the Seven Years’ War, with the Siege of Fort St Philip taking place in 1756. Two insets in the lower right corner show this fort, labelled with its French and Spanish names and viewed from above and in profile. The Italian architect Gianbattista Calvi had constructed the fortress under the orders of King Felipe II in 1554, and it had been fortified by the Spanish in 1706. Fifty years later, it was captured by the French army, but only remained under French control until the end of the year, when it was transferred back to the British. In 1782, the Spanish retook the fort and the island, and the former was demolished. Port Mahón played an important role throughout these various conflicts, and as one of the world’s finest natural harbours, it was carefully guarded as a strategic stronghold. The map encompasses the surrounding rural regions to the North, and the detailed coastline around the port. The plans of the fortress and city suggest that this map would have been put to use as a military tool; made by the royal geographer of France, it is possible that the Louis XV commission the map in the immediate aftermath of his victory. In the upper left corner, a key identifies the various buildings, roads and islands featured on the image. The key is written in both French and Spanish, yet further evidence of how the island was constantly changing hands throughout the eighteenth century.
ESPINOSA de los Monteros y Abadía, Antonio
Plano topográphico de la Villa y Corte de Madrid.
Publication Madrid, 1769.
Description
Large engraved plan on nine sheets, letterpress text pasted onto the lower sheets, remnants of original colour, losses to margins. A full condition report is available upon request.
Dimensions 1850 by 2465mm (72.75 by 97 inches).
References
De los Reyes Gómez, ‘El impresor Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros en Madrid: avance para su estudio’, Revista General de Información y Documentación, 14, 2004; Molina Campuzano, Instituto de Estudios de Administración Local, ed. Planos de Madrid de los siglos XVII y XVIII, 1960; Ortega Vidal, ‘Los planos históricos de Madrid y su fiabilidad topográfica’. Catastro. ‘Ciclo de Conferencias con motivo del 250 Aniversario de la Planimetría General de Madrid 17491999, 2000.
£40,000.00
The first plan of Madrid to show the eight quarters in which the city had been divided a year prior; the first to include the numbering of building blocks; and the first to show the orientation and plans of churches. It was published during the reign of Charles III under the direction of one of his most prominent government reformers, the Count of Aranda, following an extensive urban transformation aimed at aligning Madrid with the other European capitals.
In the mid-eighteenth century Madrid counted a population of 150,000 and over 7,500 houses. The city was characterised by the pronounced unevenness of the ground and large areas of crop land, and its core was formed by a network of narrow and poorly illuminated streets, which hindered the implementation of hygiene measures and facilitated criminality. The king (Ferdinand VI) therefore commissioned a survey, known as the ‘Visita General’, with the purpose of reorganising the city administratively and urbanely and, most important, to establish the correct taxation for each household. The survey was assigned to four architects who with their teams visited and numbered every building, and drew plans of every street, resulting in a general planimetry composed of 557 maps.
The plan is set within lavish ornamentation in the style of Piranesi. It stretches from the Manzanares river and the Royal Palace on the left, to the renewed Paseo de San Jerónimo and Parque del Retiro on the right, giving ample room to this eastern part of the city. An inset map shows the old Paseo de San Jerónimo before it was demolished and altered by order of the Count of Aranda. Marked in black near the Plaza Mayor are the ancient Muslim walls, reflecting the growing interest in archaeology. On the lower register are letterpress texts describing the history of Madrid, listing hospitals, churches and convents, and the subdivision of the quarters and their barrios. Some details, such as the square in front of the Royal Palace, were never actually implemented.
Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros y Abadía (1732-1812), was one of the most important engravers of his time. He spent three years in Rome before training at the Real Academia de San Fernando in Madrid, where he became a fellow. He was engraver at the Mints of Seville and Segovia, opened printing presses in Segovia and Madrid, with the present plan being his most ambitious project. It has been suggested that Espinosa might have not been the sole author of the plan, and that a likely candidate could have been the architect and military engineer José de Hermosilla y Sandoval (1715-1776), who was involved in the projects of the Prado, the hospital in Atocha and the church of San Francisco el Grande, which are all drawn with a great level of detail on the plan. Further to this, it is possible that the basis for the present map would have been Pedro Teixeira Albernaz’ plan of 1656, the two sharing similar size, scale and orientation.
Rare. We were able to locate seven institutional copies: Biblioteca Nacional de España (3); Bibliothèque nationale de France; British Library; University of Connecticut Library; University of Toronto Library. We were unable to trace another copy appearing on the market in the last 50 years.
SPEER, Captain Joseph Smith
Plan of Cadiz Bay from Point de Rotte to Fort St. Louis latesly corrected and copy from an original at the Royal Academy of Navigation at Cadiz. The True Courses and Bearings are marked with the exact distances to the Anchoring ground at Pontalles. The Soundings are in Spanish Feet, taken in Calm Weather at the highest Tide.
Publication
London, Capt.n Speer, Publish’d as the Act directs June 14th, 1773.
Description
Folding engraved map (520 by 742 mm to the neat line, full margins showing the platemark), dissected and laid down on linen in 18 sections, all with contemporary hand-colour in full, trimmed with green linen; with the engraved label of James Wyld titled in manuscript on the verso.
Dimensions 565 by 775mm (22.25 by 30.5 inches).
References
The Manuscripts of the Earl of Dartmouth, 3 volumes, 1887-1896, pages 50, 540 and 542.
£6,000.00
Speer’s very rare map of the Bay of Cadiz
A magnificent map of the Bay of Cadiz, with the title and extensive “Instructions” set within an elegant cartouche. The “Instructions” give accurate information on how to enter the port from every direction: “If you come from the Eastward you must endeavor to keep along the Coast at the distance of two Leagues…”. Speer’s dedication to Henry Frederick Duke of Cumberland appears in a very elaborate vignette cartouche, showing the Spanish coastline in the background.
After Columbus’s discovery of America in 1492 Cadiz soon became the home of the Spanish treasure fleet, and a target for foreign countries seeking to strike at the heart of the Spanish Empire. Sir Francis Drake famously destroyed much of the Spanish fleet there in 1587; it was blockaded by the British in 1797-1798, and bombarded by them in 1800. Between 1800 and 1812 it was besieged by the French while it valiantly maintained its independence against those parts of Spain not under Napoleonic rule.
But by 1773, when Speer’s map was issued, Cadiz’s monopoly on the valuable Atlantic trade route had begun to wane. Beginning in 1689, Britain fought a century-long series of wars with France and its ally, Spain. Even before the French and Indian War (1754-1763) Britain and France competed to control the valuable fur trade on the North American mainland and the rich sugar production on the islands of the West Indies. North American colonies became part of an intense rivalry between Great Britain and France. Each country tried to equal or surpass the economic, political, and military power of the other through colonization, alliances, and warfare.
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 concluding the Seven Years’ War (including the French and Indian War), was signed by Britain and Hanover on one side and France and Spain on the other. France renounced to Britain the mainland of North America east of the Mississippi, its conquests in India since 1749, and the West Indian islands of Granada and the Grenadines. Britain restored to France the West Indian islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique and the West African colony of Gorée (Senegal). In return for recovering Havana and Manila, Spain ceded Florida to Britain and received Louisiana from the French. The loss of American territory combined with a decentralization of trade controls to reduce Cadiz’ monopoly over a still lucrative trade.
Speer’s choice of Prince Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn (1745–1790), sixth child and fourth son of Frederick Lewis, the Prince of Wales, as dedicatee of this map, and the four others he published of Spain, was a strange one. He had achieved the rank of Vice-Admiral in 1770, but was also the subject of great scandal in England: in July of 1770 Cumberland was tried for “criminal conversation” (ie adultery) with Lady Grosvenor; but even worse, in October of 1771 Cumberland married Anne Horton, a divorced commoner. As a result, Cumberland was barred from the king’s presence. His mother, who was by now terminally ill, also refused to see him and they remained unreconciled at her death. Cumberland’s failure to seek the king’s permission for his marriage led to the king’s forcing the Royal
Marriages Act through parliament. Cumberland was also facing considerable financial difficulty, and throughout 1773 and 1774 he and his wife lived in exile on the Continent.
The mapmaker Captain Joseph Smith Speer (c1720-1781) had a long career in both the British army and Navy, including 21 years serving with 49th Foot Regiment on the Mosquito coast, present-day Honduras and Nicaragua. Returning to England in 1765 he wrote “An Account of the Mosquito Shore”, urging the British government to maintain their colony there in spite of the recent changes brought about by the Treaty of Paris, which had ceded the threateningly near port of Havana to Spain. At the same time, he also petitioned Lord Dartmouth, the then Secretary of State for the Colonies and First Lord of Trade (1772-1775) on November 6th 1765: “On his arrival in England he met his creditors who immediately put him in prison. Attributes his misfortune to being obliged to spend his money in doing the duty he was ordered on to the Spaniards, and which he has not charged in his accounts. He has served in the West Indies and on the “Musketoe” Shore for twenty-one years. Hopes when his Lordship settles the affairs of the “Musketoe” Shore, he will provide for him in such a manner as he considers his services to his King and Country may deserve”. The manuscripts of the earl of Dartmouth, 3 vols., HMC, 20 (1887–96).
It seems unlikely that Speer’s petition was granted, as he was obliged to self-publish his “West-India Pilot” in 1766, which included 13 maps of the West Indies, which he drafted from personal knowledge of the area, gleaned over his years of service. By 1767 he was again petitioning the Earl of Dartmouth to retire on half pay; and in 1771, he issued a second edition of his Pilot, this time with 26 maps. In 1775 Speer petitioned Dartmouth one last time for a pension and relief for having self-published his large 2-sheet map of the West-Indies which had been issued to official acclaim the previous year. Speer clearly returned to service during the Revolutionary War as he is recorded as having died while in Spanish custody in Cadiz in 1781.
Rare: only two institutional examples of Speer’s map of the Bay of Cadiz are known: at the British Library and the Maritime Museum in Greenwich. Two examples have appeared at auction since 1951, both in portfolios with Speer’s four other maps of Spain.
[Anonymous]
[A Fan depicting the Siege of Gibraltar].
Publication Spain, [?c1780].
Description
Folding paper fan with a fine large handcoloured engraved view of the Siege of Gibraltar with Spanish ships and troops in the foreground, the verso with engraved key in Spanish decorated with weapons of war on either side, mounted on bone sticks, the ivory sticks decorated in silver and gilt with a fort, ship and flag, the gaurdsticks carved and pierced and with silver and gilt depicting a ship and drums.
£10,000.00
The unsuccessful siege of Gibraltar began in 1779 and lasted until February 1783, when the siege was lifted. This fan, which it has been suggested belonged to the Earl of Minto, is not in the Schreiber Collection.
BADER-d’ALBE, Louis Albert Guislan; LOPEZ, Thomas; OHSEN, Friedrich Willhelm; PONGRATZ, Jean; SOTZMAN, D[aniel] F[rederick]
[Collection of maps of Spain, Italy, Germany, and Europe from the collection of the Comte Dorsenne].
Publication Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, 1780-1810.
Description
48 engraved maps on 126 mapsheets, all dissected and mounted on linen, some with outline hand-colour and full wash colour, all housed in 17 red morocco pulloff slipcases, lettered in gilt to spine, with the name of the Comte Dorsenne to upper cover in gilt.
References David, ‘The Campaigns of Napoleon’ page 372.
£20,000.00
The Comte Dorsenne’s maps used in his Napoleonic campaigns
A set of maps owned by the Comte Dorsenne (1773-1812), one of Napoleon’s most trusted Lieutenants, during the French Revolutionary Wars.
The collection consists of some of the most up-to-date cartography of the Napoleonic Era, concentrating on the main theatres of operation, including Italy, Spain, and Germany, together with a general map of Europe. Napoleon’s extensive campaigns had led to the need for accurate military mapping in order to aid logistics and strategy. One of Napoleon’s most trust cartographers was Baron Louis Albert Bacler d’Albe (1761-1824), whose monumental maps of north and south Italy appear in this collection; published between 1798 and 1802 - following France’s successful Italian campaign - on a total of 54 sheets, the map would be the most detailed and accurate survey Italy to date.
Balcer d’Albe “served Napoleon with hardly a break from 1796 to 1813 … He was responsible for performing all the staff duties connected with Napoleon s planning sessions. He was entrusted with the task of amending maps and the maintenance of a large daily situation chart, on which every formation was marked by pins of different colours” (David). Bacler d Albe “joined the army as a volunteer on 1 May 1793, and served with the Army of the Alps. He was promoted captain of artillery, and was wounded at both the sieges of Lyon and Toulon. He then served with the Army of Italy. He was made captain of the 56th Line on 20 March 1794, then became assistant to the adjutant-majors of the artillery park. With Bonaparte’s arrival, he was employed as a topographical officer and draughtsman, making maps of the coast from Nice to Savona. He was made chef de bataillon and head of the Topographical Bureau of the army. On 23 September 1804, he became head of the Emperor’s topographical office, and proceeded to follow Napoleon through all his campaigns”.
Interestingly the other maps in the collection are not French but by indigenous cartographers such as Thomas Lopez de Vargas Machuca (17301802) – Spain; and Daniel Frederick Sotzmann, Frederick Wilhelm Ohsen, and Johann Pongratz – Germany and Europe.
The mapmaker Tomas Lopez de Vargas Machuca (1731-1802), was the only important Spanish cartographer of the eighteenth century to publish extensively, and the collection includes 41 on his regional maps of the Iberian peninsular.
Lopez spent his early years in Paris as the pupil of the great French cartographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, but in 1760 was recalled to Spain. During his career, Lopez published several atlases, including one of America in 1758, and a miniature atlas of Spain. He became Royal Geographer to King Charles III in 1780, with the task of mapping all the different regions of Spain. In preparation for such a great undertaking he sent out a questionnaire to individual parishes, asking them for information on their local area. These regional maps (41 of which are present here) were intended to accompany his ambitious work ‘Diccionario Geográfico-Histórico de España’, which was never completed. In 1795, Lopez was authorised to create a geographic agency for the secretary of state.
After Lopez’s death in 1802, his sons Juan and Tomás Mauricio published the folio-size ‘Atlas Geographico de España’, compiled from the best maps their father had made of each Spanish province (dated 1804, 1810 and 1830). Additionally, a number of composite atlases by him (and his sons), including maps of the overseas territories of the Spanish Empire are known.
The mapmaker Daniel Frederick Sotzmann (1754-1840) - whose maps of Prussia, and Poland and western Russia appear in the collection - was one of the leading mapmakers working in Berlin at the beginning of the nineteenth century. He had joined the Prussian Royal Academy of Science in 1786, becoming their geographer, and by the turn of the century was the most prolific cartographic publishers in Berlin. By 1816 he had joined the Royal Prussian Statistical Bureau and would later be appointed to the Prussian State Survey.
The penultimate map in the collection is a post road map of Lower Saxony by the little known German mapmaker Friedrich Wilhelm Ohsen (fl 1777). Although the map was first published in 1774, the present map has been updated to 1805, and provides a detailed view of the area a year before the creation of the Dutchy of Saxony following the the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806.
The final map by the German mapmaker Johann Pongratz, published in Vienna, provides a detailed overview of Europe in 1810, when much of the continent’s political geography had been dramatically altered by Napoleon and his loyal lieutenants, such as the Comte de Dorsenne.
(1773-1812)
Jean-Marie-Pierre-François Doursenne, called Dorsenne, count Lepaige (30 April 1773 – 24 July 1812) was a French military officer of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He eventually became one of the senior commanders in the Imperial Guard.
Dorsenne’s military career began in 1791, when he joined the army as a volunteer. He quickly rose through the ranks of the Armée du Nord and became captain, subsequently joining the Armée du Rhinand then the Armée d’Italie. With the Army of Italy at the crossing of the Battle of Valvasone (16 March 1797), Dorsenne’s heroic conduct was noticed by commander-in-chief, general Napoleon Bonaparte, who promoted him to the rank of chef de bataillon (battalion commander). Bonaparte then enlisted Dorsenne’s services for the Egyptian campaign, where the latter would display his usual bravery and would receive several battle wounds.
In 1805, after Emperor Napoleon created the Imperial Guard, Dorsenne was admitted in this elite unit as a major and displayed remarkable bravery at the Battle of Austerlitz, which would gain him the rank of colonel, on 18 December 1805. Only a week later, he was once again promoted, to the rank of brigadier general. By the end of 1806, Dorsenne had taken command of the prestigious Foot Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, which he soon had to lead in combat at the bloody Battle of Eylau. An impeccable officer, Dorsenne was created Count Lepaige in 1808. His elegance and robust physique brought him the nickname “le beau Dorsenne” (the handsome Dorsenne). After serving briefly in Spain, when the War of the Fifth Coalition broke out, Napoleon called him back to the newly created Armée d’Allemagne and was given command of the Old Guard Infantry Division. After fighting at the battle of Ratisbon, Dorsenne had two horses killed under him at the battle of Aspern-Essling, subsequently receiving a serious head wound from a cannonball while he and his men were valiantly covering the retreat. He was promoted general of division soon after the battle and, after being present at the great battle of Wagram, was once again sent to Spain. There he was named governor of Burgos and then of Old Castile.
On 25 July 1811, Napoleon recalled Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières as commander of the Army of the North because of his negative reports of the situation. Dorsenne was Bessières’s replacement. Paul Thiébault later wrote that Dorsenne was a “conceited imbecile”, but in the opinion of Charles Oman his record does not match with the accusations of his jealous subordinate. In particular, Dorsenne had the good sense to cooperate with other French commanders more than was normally seen in Spain.
However, by the beginning of 1812 Dorsenne began to suffer from violent headaches, an effect of the severe wound he had received at Essling. He was forced to come back to France, where he had to undergo a trepanation. General Dorsenne, comte Lepaige died soon after the operation. His name is inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Contents
1. BADER-d’ALBE, Louis Albert Guislan ‘Carte Generale du Theatre de la Guerre en Italie et dans Les Alpes Depius le passage du Var... Bacler Dalbe’.
2. BADER-d’ALBE, Louis Albert Guislan ‘Carte Generale Des Royaumes de Naples, Sicile & Sardaigne...’
3. LOPEZ, Thomas [Maps of Spain].
4. SOTZMANN, D[aniel] F[rederick] ‘Topographisch Militaerische Karte vom vormaligen Neu Ostpreussen oder dem jetziger Nördlichen Theil des Herzogthums Warschau nebst dem Russischen District’, Berlin 1807.
5. SOTZMANN, Daniel Friedrich; and JACK, Carl. ‘General Karte von den Konig: Preussischen Staaten nach den neuesten und zuverlässigsten Hülfsmitteln auf das genaueste entworfen, und herausgegeben im Jahre 1799’.
6. OHSEN, Friedrich Wilhelm. ‘Neu Vermahrte Post Charte der Chur Braunschweigischen und angrenzenden Lande... 1774’, Verbessert 1805.
7. PONGRATZ, Johann ‘Neueste Allgemeine Postkarte von Europa... Nouvelle carte des routes des postes dans les diffrens Etats de l’Europe’. Vienna, Mollo, 1810. ‘‘
LUFFMAN, John
A Map of the Western Pyrenees Mount[ai]ns and adjacent country, from Bayonne to St. Sebastian, Vittoria, Bilbao, Pameluna, and Jacca; With the Bearings & Distances from Bayonne, as also, the Passes and Roads.
Publication London, John Luffman, 1813.
Description Engraved map, with contemporary handcolour.
Dimensions 195 by 385mm (7.75 by 15.25 inches).
References
Unrecorded on COPAC; British Museum, Department of Prints & Drawings, 1917,1208.4056; Newberry Library (Chicago) folio Ayer 135.L94 1816 pl. [27]: bound in Luffman’s Select plans of cities, harbours, forts, &c... [1816?], but not called for in the original edition.
£1,200.00
John Luffman (1751-1821) was one of the more interesting English publishers of the first decade of the nineteenth century; he began his career as an engraver, trained by John Bayly, a noted map engraver in the Goldsmiths’ Company, producing a fine map of Antigua, where had resided in 1787 and 1789; however, and this was a common fate for engraver-mapmakers, he was declared bankrupt on 9th March, 1793, the bankruptcy certified on 21st December, 1793, and a dividend paid on 1st March, 1794. Although he continued in business, he was more cautious thereafter, restricting himself to producing small format atlases and handy-sized map of the theatres of war, principal towns and cities and battle-plans relating to the Wars of the French directorate and subsequent Napoleonic War.
Having engraved a good number of maps, Luffman later reprinted them as atlases, for example ‘Luffman’s collection, or a geographical & topographical atlas’ (1815-1816) and ‘Plans of the principal fortresses in the Netherlands and on the French frontier...’ (1816); the Newberry Library exemplar seems to be from one such composite collection.
This attractive map depicts the final phase of the Peninsular War, in which the Anglo-Portuguese army, commanded by the Duke of Wellington, having fought its way up through Spain, sought to cross the Pyrenees into southern France.
Catálogo de las cartas, planos, vistas, estampas y libros pertenecientes a la Real Direccion de Trabajos Hidrograficos de Madrid.
Publication
Madrid, Real Direccion de Trabajos Hidrograficos, 1815-1857.
Description
Sammelband: parts 9-26 in one volume. Octavo, lacking map from part 13; marbled paper wrappers.
Dimensions
205 by 145mm (8 by 5.75 inches).
References
Provenance: Annotations to part 26.
£12,000.00
The Real Direccion de Trabajos Hidrograficos was an important Spanish nautical institution, created in 1797 to compile, keep and publish, the sheer volume of information brought back from Spanish voyages of exploration in the last decades of the eighteenth century.
The separate issues of the catalogue that compose this volume, list the charts drawn and supervised by the Real Direccion de Trabajos Hidrograficos, and notes the estimated prices of the maps, as offered for sale in Spain, as well as in the Spanish overseas colonies: the prices in the colonies are consistently calculated as half of that in Spain.
WYLD, James
Plan of the Town and Environs of Porto 1832.
Publication
London, by J. Wyld Geographer to the King, Charing Cross East, 1832.
Description
Lithograph map with fine original hand colour.
Dimensions 450 by 580mm (17.75 by 22.75 inches).
References BNF département Cartes et plans GE D-13223.
£1,500.00
Separately
issued plan illustrating the siege of Porto during the Portuguese Civil War
Rare separately issued plan of Porto published during the Liberal Wars or the Portuguese Civil War.
This detailed plan of Porto and its environs was published by Wyld to coincide with Britain’s continued involvement in Portuguese affairs. The British had sided throughout the 1820s with the Liberal constitutionalists led by Dom Pedro (Pedro IV) against the Absolutists led by his younger brother Miguel. The British, although not overly concerned with the internal politics of the country, were weary of the outside influence on Portugal by the likes of Austria, Spain, and to a lesser extent France. The tensions between the two Portuguese factions led to the Portuguese Civil War (1828-1832), also known as the Liberal Wars.
By 1832 the forces led by Miguel controlled all of the Portuguese mainland, with the Liberal forces controlling the Azores. On 8 July 1832 a fleet of 60 ships from the Azores led by the British Admiral George Roses Sartorius landed some 7,500 men on the Arnosa de Pampelido beach near Mindelo. The action took the Absolutist forces completely by surprise and they were not able to oppose the landing, nor the occupation of Porto the next day. On 23 July the Liberal Army were able to repulse the Absolutists in the Battle of Ponte Ferreira, but had to fall back on Porto. The Absolutist forces would lay siege to the city for the next 12 months.
The plan itself, on a scale of 3 inches to the statute mile, is superbly detailed with roads, and buildings named and marked, and elevation shown by hachure. A reference key to the right lists 21 prominent buildings and landmarks. Two red lines depict the city’s defensive lines or walls, one surrounding the outer limits and the other the inner core.
The mapmaker James Wyld sr. was apprenticed to William Faden in the Clothworkers’ Company in 1804, and made free in 1811. After his freedom, Wyld seems to have worked as a surveyor and for the Quartermaster General’s Office, the department of the army responsible for publishing maps, being involved in producing maps for use by the British Army in the Peninsula War. This particular war saw the first use of mass lithographic printing for map publishing.
At the end of the Napoleonic War, Wyld moved into commercial mapmaking and publishing, as an engraver, printer and publisher. In 1823 he took over the Faden mapmaking and publishing business, which he operated until his death in 1836. He was joined in partnership by his son James jr. (1812-1887), who then succeeded him; he was succeeded in turn by his son James John Cooper Wyld (1844-1907).
For much of the century the family were the leading English mapmakers and publishers, succeeding Faden as geographer to the King and to the Duke of York, and then by appointment to King William IV and then Queen Victoria. Wyld sr. was one of the founding members of the Royal Geographical Society in August 1830. In the second half of the century they were challenged by Edward Stanford. Under the third James Wyld the firm went into decline, and in 1893 the business acquired by Edward Stanford Ltd.
Rare: We are only able to trace one institutional example in the BnF, with the defensive walls marked in red differ somewhat in their placement compared to the present plan.
Scale: 3 inches to one statute mile.
BOTTOMLEY, A.H.
Hunting Map of the Country near Gibraltar.
Publication 1957.
Description
Printed map on waxed cloth, with original hand colour and manuscript annotation.
Dimensions
634 by 546mm (25 by 21.5 inches).
References
Centro Geográfico del Ejército Ar.GT.10-C.1-1048.
£750.00
An interesting hunting map of Gibraltar. At the lower left corner information is given on the meeting places of the Calpe Hunt. The Calpe was founded in 1812, after a chaplain imported two English foxhounds, supposedly to keep down the fox population. It grew into a successful hunt, and eventually gained the patronage of both Edward VII of Britain and Alfonso XIII of Spain.
The map is a wonderful depiction of English social customs in Gibraltar. In the list of places the hunt meets, the third is ‘Rotten Row’, taking its name from the area in Hyde Park in London.
This is a copy of a map of the same title printed in 1907, possibly made on waxed cloth so that the owner could take it to the hunt. An example of the 1907 map is held at the Centro Geográfico del Ejército in Madrid.
