1688 Coronelli-Nolin Map of the Caribbean

An Essential, Rare Caribbean.

This grand, scarce map of the Caribbean and West Indies, produced by Vincenzo Coronelli and Jean-Baptiste Nolin in 1688, is the largest and most beautiful of Coronelli's maps dedicated to the West Indies.

A Closer Look

This map reveals the Caribbean and Bahamas, spanning from the tip of Florida in the upper left to Trinidad and coastal Venezuela in the lower right. The southern limits of the map present the north coast of South America and part of Central America, extending to modern-day Costa Rica. Thus, the map encompasses the entire Caribbean archipelago, from Cuba, the Cayman Islands, and Jamaica in the west to the Windward Islands and Barbados in the east. The upper part of the map presents the Bahamas in their amorphous 17th-century cartographic form, with the addition of extensive shallows between those islands and the north coast of Cuba. The map includes notes describing many of the islands and indicating their dates of European settlement. The elegant title and scale cartouches and the map's avertissiment are embellished with accurately rendered indigenous plants and animals, including their text identification (for example, a Grande Tortue and Poisson Volant at the bottom of the cartouche).

Contributions of 'Sr. Tillemon'

This second, c. 1690, state of the map includes the imprint 'Corrigée et augmentée Par le Sr. Tillemon'. This raises the question as to what corrections and augmentations were actually made by Sr. Tillemon, aka Jean Nicolas du Tralage, because there is no cartographic difference between this and the first 1688 state lacking the Sr. Tillemon imprint. Du Tralage was an accomplished geographer, and archival evidence indicates that he was the author of several of Nolin's maps. Changes made to some of the Coronelli-Nolin maps (for example, the 1688 state of Partie Occidentale du Canada) do suggest 'corrections and augmentations' by a source other than Coronelli that might be attributed to du Tralage. We see no such alterations in the present work, so unless du Tralage's work on this map was simply uncredited in its earlier states, it may be that his imprint was added c. 1690 to Nolin's maps en masse without consideration of his cartographic input. It is possible that one of du Tralage's contributions might have been political patronage: du Tralage's uncle was lieutenant general of Louis XIV's police, a monumentally powerful person whose influence extended over censorship. Lack of his favor might have resulted in Nolin not being able to publish at all.

Publication History and Census

This map was engraved in Venice and published by Vincenzo Coronelli and Jean Baptiste Nolin in 1688. In and around 1690, the cartouche was amended to include the Sr. Tillemon imprint, creating this second state of the map. The date was unchanged, with the result that an indeterminate number of the examples of this map have been incorrectly cataloged as '1688.' Some institutions have assigned a cautious yet impossible date of 1741 to this second state. A third state, dated 1742, was produced. We see perhaps 18 examples of the map in institutional collections, five of which are confirmed second states (though misdated). The map appears on the market from time to time in its 1742 state, but we see no price records for any 1688 more recent than 2003.

Cartographers

Vincenzo Maria Coronelli (August 16, 1650 - December 9, 1718) was an important 17th-century cartographer and globe maker based in Venice. Coronelli was born the fifth child of a Venetian tailor. Unlikely to inherit his father's business, he instead apprenticed in Ravenna to a woodcut artist. Around 1663, Coronelli joined the Franciscan Order and, in 1671, entered the Venetian convent of Saint Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. Coronelli excelled in the fields of cosmography, mathematics, and geography. Although his works include the phenomenal Atlante Veneto and Corso Geografico, Coronelli is best known for his globes. In 1678, Coronelli was commissioned to make his first major globes by Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma. Each superbly engraved globe was five feet in diameter. Louis IV of France, having heard of the magnificent Parma globes, invited Coronelli to Paris, where from 1681-83 he constructed an even more impressive pair of globes measuring over 12 feet in diameter and weighing 2 tons each. The globes earned him the patronage of Louis XIV and privileged access to French cartographic information from Jesuit sources in the New World, particularly Louisiana. Coronelli returned to Venice and continued to publish globes, maps, and atlases, which were admired all over Europe for their beauty, accuracy, and detail. He had a particular fascination for the Great Lakes region, and his early maps of this area were unsurpassed in accuracy for nearly 100 years after their initial publication. He is also well known for his groundbreaking publication of the first accurate map depicting the sources of the Blue Nile. At the height of his career, Coronelli founded the world's first geographical society, the Accademia Cosmografica degli Argonauti, and was awarded the official title Cosmographer of the Republic of Venice. In 1699, in recognition of his extraordinary accomplishment and scholarship, Coronelli was also appointed Father General of the Franciscan Order. The great cartographer and globe maker died in Venice at the age of 68. His extraordinary globes can be seen today at the Bibliothèque Nationale François Mitterrand in Paris, Biblioteca Marciana in Venice, the National Library of Austria, the Globe Museum in Vienna, the Library of Stift Melk, the Special Collections Library of Texas Tech University, as well as lesser works in Trier, Prague, London, and Washington D.C. Coronelli's work is notable for its distinctive style, which is characterized by the high-quality white paper, dark intense impressions, detailed renderings of topographical features in profile, and numerous cartographic innovations.   Further Details...

Jean-Baptiste Nolin (1657 - 1725) was a French cartographer and publisher active in Paris during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Nolin was a man of exceptional business acumen and while many cartographers struggled financially, he prospered. Many attribute this to the fact that Nolin produced very little original work, relying primarily on business relationships with the legendary Italian cartography Vincenzo Coronelli, Jean-Dominique Cassini, and the French geographer Jean Nicolas du Trallage, Sieur de Tillemont (1620 – 1698). His work is known for exceptional aesthetic élan, combining Italianesque baroque and rococo ethics with most current cartographic data. It might also be said that Nolin was a bit of a con-artist in his self-promotion, often inaccurately using such titles as 'Engraver to the King' and 'Geographer to the Duke of Orleans', neither of which appointments he actually held. In 1705, he was successfully sued by Guillaume De L’Isle for copyright infringement, a case which cost him significant scientific credibility. Nonetheless, Nolin remained commercially popular and prosperous. Nolin's son, also Jean Baptiste Nolin (1686 - 1762) inherited his father’s map plates and republished many of his maps, as well as issuing his own unique maps, well into the 18th century. Both Nolins maintained offices on Rue St. Jacques, Paris.   Further Details...

Jean-Nicolas de Tillemont (1620 - November 12, 1699), a.k.a. Jean Nicolas du Tralage, Sieur de Tillemont, was a French geographer and map collector. Little is known of his life, despite a powerful family: his uncle, Gabriel Nicolas de La Reynie (1667 - 1697) was King Louis XVI's first Lieutenant Général de Police - a man of astonishing reach and responsibility. De La Reynie was a reputed bibliophile, a passion passed along to du Tralage, who amassed a remarkable print and map collection. As a geographer, du Tralage's name is associated with a large number of maps; some published by Homann, the majority by Nolin. Manuscript evidence survives that confirms du Tralage as the author of at least some of Nolin's output, particularly regional maps of France. His contribution to Nolin's other maps is less clear and poorly understood. For example, many of the Coronelli-Nolin maps that bear du Tralage's imprint in later states show no changes that would indicate his participation. It is possible that du Tralage's Sr. Tillemon imprint was added to Nolin's maps en masse without consideration of his contribution to each individual work. As a collector, however, du Tralage's achievements are clearer. His collection of over 32000 prints, mainly maps, sets a high bar for any collector.   Further Details...

Source

Coronelli, V., Cartes Generales des Royaumes de l'Europe et des Particuliers de France, (Paris: Chez I. B. Nolin) 1693.    

Condition

Good. Trimmed to border at top with some loss, margin reinstated, border reinstated in manuscript. Bottom corner reinstated just touching border.

References

OCLC 1448324069. Rumsey 14353.047. Not in Burden.