1745 Mannevillette First Edition Nautical Chart of the Gulf of Aden

This is the extremely rare 1745 first edition of D'Après de Mannevillette's groundbreaking nautical chart of the Gulf of Aden. Although censured by the French Admiralty and thus exceedingly scarce, this map represents one of the earliest scientific measurements of these coastlines.

A Closer Look

The chart covers the Gulf of Aden, from Djibouti on the left to the island of Socotra, including the southernmost extent of the Red Sea and the coast of Yemen and Oman as far as the Khuriya Muriya Islands. The topography of the coastline is indicated with hachure, and depth soundings along the Arabian coast are noted. An inset chart at the upper left details the Bab Al-Mandab strait at the mouth of the Red Sea, giving detailed soundings up Yemen's Red Sea coast to the ancient coffee port of Moka. Other coastal cities are indicated: Mirbat (Morebat), Dhofar (Doffar), Salalah (Sajare), Haswayn (Hansvel), Qishn(Kissen), etc. On the north coast of Socotra is marked the anchorage of Tamrida, now known as Hadibu - the largest town in the Socotra archipelago and capital of the Socotra Governorate. Notations on the coastlines indicate crucial information for travelers by land or sea: Endroit ou on peut faire de l'eau douce (Place where one can get fresh water). A pronounced bay on the Yemeni coast marked B. de Canacaria may be an exaggerated opening for the Wadi Ahwar.

A Censured First Edition

All maps from the 1745 first edition of the Neptune Oriental are as significant as they are rare. The atlas recorded the surveys of Mannevillette's 1728 voyage to China wherein, using the most up-to-date hydrographic instruments, he corrected latitudes and made new charts all along the route. When he returned to France, he devised a plan to publish new maps of the route to China, including charts of the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the coasts of India, Malaya, the northern parts of Indonesia, Indochina, and China. His Neptune Oriental, published for the Compagnie des Indes (French East India Company), appeared in 1745 and featured 25 groundbreaking maps. In reviewing the work, the French Admiralty considered the information to be so accurate and advanced over earlier charts that its publication represented a threat to French colonial and maritime interests. According to Filliozat, 'the French Admiralty considering that the Neptune Oriental was too dangerous... ordered the remaining copies to be destroyed' (Filliozat, Manonmani, Indian Journal of History of Science, 292, 1994, p. 341). Consequently, despite much revised and expanded issues of the Neptune Orientale appearing in 1775 (59 maps) and 1775 - 1781, the important first edition remains exceedingly rare. While the 1775 edition is common, we note only three surviving examples of the 1745 edition in the OCLC.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved by Guillaume d'Heulland for the 1745 first edition of D'Après de Mannevillette's Neptune Oriental. Like all the maps from this edition, most examples were censured and destroyed. The map was replaced in the 1775 second edition of the Neptune Oriental with a smaller version. Institutional cataloging of this chart is hampered by the absence of any imprint. The present example, having been trimmed for binding, also lacks d'Heulland's imprint, which appeared at the lower left outside the neatline. We see a sole institutional example of the separate chart only at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, misdated to 1770. (The BNF also holds a separate example of the 1775 chart misdated 1745.) The full 1745 edition of the atlas is part of the collections at the Library of Congress and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.