1778 Robert de Vaugondy Map of Canada, New Foundland, Nova Scotia, and the Great Lakes

A scarce and influential map illustrating the political situation around the Great Lakes and in Canada early in the American Revolutionary War.

A fine example of Robert de Vaugondy's 1778 map of former French dominions in Canada and in the vicinity of the Great Lakes at the outset of the American Revolutionary War. Essentially two maps on a single sheet. The primary map covers the Gulf of St. Lawrence, St. Lawrence River, and surrounding territories including Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, as well as parts of Quebec, Ontario, New York, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The secondary map, dominated the lower left quadrant, detailed the Great Lakes, or as the map defines them 'Les Lacs du Canada.' Although initially issued in 1755, the present map is an updated edition dating to 1778 which has been re-engraved to reflect the outcome of the French and Indian War. The secondary map roughly follows the 1744 map of French cartographer Nicolas Bellin in detailing the Great Lakes and surrounding territories; however, it does extend significantly westward into the lands of the Sioux and the rivers surrounding the Lake of the Woods - no doubt a response to additional French information gleaned from fur traders in the region. Vaugondy's influence on French cartography was significant and this became the standard template for the mapping of this region for roughly 50 years from its original publication. The present example is the 4th state of this map, the last to be issued directly by the Vaugondy Family before the map plates were passed on to Charles Delamarche.

The French and Indian War dramatically transformed political and colonial relationships in the New World. According to the 1763 treaty of Paris, which officially ended the war, France ceded most of its North American Territories to Great Britain. Most of the changes and updates to this map follow the Treaty of Paris and subsequent treaties, such as the 1868 Treaty of Fort. Stanwix. While the French name Acadia is still applied to modern day Nova Scotia, 'Nouvelle Ecosse' has also been added. The boundaries defining the territories of the Hudson Bay Company and the Indian territories south of Lake Ontario are also notable.

The large inset map in the lower left quadrant, featuring its own rococo cartouche, follows primarily the 1744 mapping of Nicholas Bellin and Pierre Francois Xavier de Charlevoix. The map, however, extends much further west presenting knowledge of inland river systems as far as the Lac of the Woods - no doubt reflecting the exploration of pre-French and Indian War French fur traders like Pierre Gaultier de la Verendrye. There are several additional significant updates over the Bellin/Charlevoix plan, including corrections to both form and alignment of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Chicago, written 'Chicagou' is noted on the southern shores of Lake Michigan.

Of particular note are the four spurious islands in Lake Superior, here identified as Philippeaux, Pontchartrain, Maurepas, and St. Anne. The islands were intended to honor Charlevoix' s personal patron, the Count of Maurepas, Jean-Frederic Phelypeaux. The largest of the three islands, Philippeaux, is named directly after the count. The second largest island, Pontchartrain, refers to Phelypeaux's family estate. The third island, which may in fact be a mismapping of the factual State Islands, is named after the count's seat, Maurepas. The fourth and smallest of the islands, St. Anne, references the count's patron saint. Charlevoix described the islands as being rich in minerals leading numerous explorers to search for them in vain. Bellin dutifully introduced the four islands to his map, and such was his influence that they were subsequently copied by most subsequent cartographers, including John Mitchell in his seminal 1755 wall map of North America. The highly regarded Mitchell map was used in negotiating the 1783 Treaty of Paris that formally concluded the American Revolutionary War. Therein, the apocryphal Philippeaux was assigned as a marker for the new United States - British America border thus setting the stage, as one might image, for later political strife.

This map was originally engraved by Catherine Haussard, one of the few female engravers active in Paris during the 18th century. Her fine work extends to the large and elaborate decorative title cartouche in the lower right quadrant. The cartouche attempts to illustrate some of the flora and fauna common to the Americas, including a stylized but recognizable beaver, one of the primary exports of the region, in the lower right corner. A distance scale set in a typical Newfoundland dory offers scale both in miles and nautical leagues. In this edition the 'C. Haussard sculp.' imprint has been replaced by that of Groux, the engraver responsible for the map's 1778 update.

Curiously the year of this map's issue, 1778, also marks the return of the French to North America as allies to the colonial forces in the American Revolutionary War. Some have suggested that the ultimate victory of the fledgling United States was France's revenge for having lost its own New World territories in the Treaty of Paris.

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...

Source

Robert de Vaugondy, G., Atlas Universel, (Paris: Antoine Boudet) 1778.    

The Atlas Universel was the crowning glory of the Robert de Vaugondy firm's atlas production. The atlas was revolutionary on many levels and exemplified the Vaugondy credo commode, complet, univorme, et suive (convenient, complete, uniform, and easy to use). The atlas thus consisted of a wide corpus of maps, both modern and historical, was of moderate height and width, and featured maps of uniform style and structure. They partnered with Antoine Boudet, a shrewd businessman and publisher with whom they had worked previously, to produce the 1752 first edition. To minimize his fiscal risk, Boudet sold the atlas first by subscription using a large prospectus, receiving in the process over 1100 pre-orders. The first edition appeared in 1752 and contained beautifully produced maps with elaborate freshly designed allegorical cartouche work, generally by Pierre-Edme Babel, Pierre Philippe Choffard, and Charles Nicholas Cochin. Most of the maps were engraved by the Delahaye firm, the payment for whose services ultimately led to legal disputes. Despite proving a popular work of astounding quality, the Atlas Universal received harsh criticism from fellow cartographers, particularly Philipppe Buache. Ever at odds with the Vaugondys, Buache's critical perspective may have been influenced more by political maneuvering than academic affront. The atlas was issued in multiple editions between 1752 and 1788. Later editions, issued after 1786, were taken over by Charles Delamarche, who inherited the Robert de Vaugondy firm and assumed Boudet's publication rights.

Condition

Very good. Some foxing.

References

Rumsey 3353.099 (1755). Kershaw, K. A., Early Printed Maps of Canada, no. #356. Pedley, M. A., Bel et Utile: The Work of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Mapmakers, #459-4. Sellers, John R. and Van Ee, Patricia, Maps and Charts of North America, no. #61.