1770 Vaugondy Pocket Map of Africa

A stunning overview of Africa on the cusp of European exploration into the interior.

An important an unusual c. 1870 folding pocket map of Africa by Robert de Vaugondy. Vaugondy frist issued this map in 1749 and it went through at least seven states with editions appearing as late as 1810. Issued on the cusp of europe's great wave of exploration into the interior of Africa, Vaugondy loosely based this map on the earlier work of De L'Isle and Sanson with updates to comply with the most recent cartographic information coming into Paris. The map offers impressive detail of the largely unexplored interior, featuring the names of various tribal groups and indigenous empires throughout, while at the same time, studiously avoiding presumption regarding the general geography of the interior. The well mapped coastline is consistent with earlier maps of the region, though the projection has been slightly corrected. The known lands, most explored by missionaries and early colonists, of Mediterranean Africa, egypt, Abyssinia, Morocco, the Niger Delta, and South Africa and the Congo, are mapped according to convention with a few minor updates. The interior is largely blank of geographical features. Vaugondy abandons the tradition of filling the blanks with speculative mappings of the White Nile, the Niger, and the Mountains of the Moon. Rather he focuses on known missionary reports containing both first hand evidence of the interior and second hand information gleaned from the African indigeni. These include an embryonic mapping of Lake Malawi, with the note (in translation) that reads, 'It is claimed that his lake extends far to the north.' Thus are europeans beginning to understand the Rift Valley and anticipate some of the greater lakes soon to be discovered further north, including Nyasa and Victoria. To the right of the map proper a table offers a breakdown of the religious, people, islands, and cultures of Africa. As stated, this map went through numerous states, both under Vaugondy directly and by his successors, Fortin (this edition) and Delamarche. Most of the changes in later editions focuses on the cartouche work and titling and had little to do with the map itself. Though most examples of this map were issued in Atlas format, this rare example was issued independently in pocket or case format. Folds into original paper folio.

Cartographer

Robert de Vaugondy (fl. c. 1716 - 1786) was a French publishing firm run by Gilles (1688 - 1766) and Didier (c. 1723 - 1786) Robert de Vaugondy. They were map publishers, engravers, and cartographers active in Paris during the mid-18th century. Gilles was the nephew of Pierre Moulard Sanson, and was thus the inheritor of Nicolas Sanson (1600 - 1667), whose stock supplied much of their initial material and whose legacy supplied much of their initial reputation. Graduating from Sanson's maps, Gilles, and more particularly Didier, began to produce their own substantial corpus. The Vaugondys were well-respected for the detail and accuracy of their maps, for which they capitalized on the resources of 18th-century Paris to compile the most accurate and fantasy-free maps possible. The Vaugondys compiled each map based on their own geographic knowledge, scholarly research, journals of contemporary explorers and missionaries, and direct astronomical observation. Moreover, unlike many cartographers of this period, they took pains to reference their sources. Nevertheless, even in 18th-century Paris, geographical knowledge was limited - especially regarding those unexplored portions of the world, including the poles, the Pacific Northwest of America, and the interiors of Africa, Australia, and South America. This gap in knowledge let to divergent geographical approaches, epitomized by the Buache-Vaugondy debates at the French Academie des Sciences - one of the key pivotal moments in the history of modern cartography. Buache, in his Exposé, argued for a Theoretical Geography, which postulated that a systematic and scientific approach could accurately fill in the map in advance of actual exploration. Vaugondy's scathing critique of the Exposé, presented as the Considerations, argued for empirical restraint in cartography, suggesting that unexplored areas should simply be left blank and that mapping itself should rely on documentable current discovery. While Bucahe, with more political acumen and connections, initially came out ahead in the debates, the subsequent decades saw voyages of discovery by Captains James Cook, Jean Francois de Galaup de La Perouse, and George Vancouver disprove most of his map. Nonetheless, by that time, Vaugondy, advanced in age, did not live long enough to see his approach become ascendant. Didier died more celebrated than solvent, and his maps were acquired by Jean-Baptiste Fortin, who in 1787 sold them to Charles-François Delamarche (1740 - 1817). Delamarche, more businessman than cartographer, prospered from the Vaugondy maps, but defrauded Vaugondy's widow, Marie Louise Rosalie Dangy, of her rightful inheritance and may even have killed her.   Further Details...

Condition

Very good condition. Independently issued folding map. Folds into its original paper folio binder. Some soiling on original fold lines. Original pressmark visible. Old color.

References

Afriterra 875 (1749 edition). Pedley, M. A., Bel et Utile: The Work of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Mapmakers, 423. Tooley, R. V., Collector's Guide to Maps of the African Continent and Southern Africa, p. 94.