1749 Vaugondy Map of Andalusia and Grenada, Spain

CastilleAndalousie-vaugondy-1749
$180.00
Partie Meridionale des Etats de Castille, où se trouvent l'Andalousie et le Royaume de Grenade. Par le Sr. Robert de Vaugondy, fils de Mr. Robert Géog. du Roi. - Main View
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1749 Vaugondy Map of Andalusia and Grenada, Spain

CastilleAndalousie-vaugondy-1749

Map of Spain depicting Cadiz, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain.
$180.00

Title


Partie Meridionale des Etats de Castille, où se trouvent l'Andalousie et le Royaume de Grenade. Par le Sr. Robert de Vaugondy, fils de Mr. Robert Géog. du Roi.
  1749 (dated)     6.5 x 8.5 in (16.51 x 21.59 cm)     1 : 2700000

Description


This is a 1749 Vaugondy map of southern Spain and Morocco. The map depicts from the Portuguese border to Murcia and from the border between Andalusia and La Mancha to the Mediterranean coast of Morocco. Andalusia is almost completely illustrated and the Kingdom of Grenada is presented in its entirety. Cadiz is labeled and sits on the Atlantic coast of Spain. Founded by the Phoenicians, Cadiz is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe. Other Andalusian cities, such as Sevilla, Cordoua, and Gibraltar (Gibal-tar) are labeled, as well as Malaga and Grenada in the Kingdom of Grenada. The Strait of Gibraltar (Détroit de Gibal-tar) is depicted, which connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea. In Morocco, known here as the 'Royaume de Fez,' the most famous city present is Tangiers (Tanger), which sits across the Strait from Spain.

This map was published by Gilles Robert de Vaugondy in his Atlas Universel, Portatif et Militaire in the 1749 edition.

Cartographer


Gilles (1688 - 1766) and Didier (c. 1723 - 1786) Robert de Vaugondy were map publishers, engravers, and cartographers active in Paris during the mid-18th century. The father and son team were the inheritors to the important Sanson cartographic firm whose stock supplied much of their initial material. Graduating from Sanson's maps, Gilles, and more particularly Didier, began to produce their own substantial corpus. 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. In these areas, the Vaugondys, like their rivals De L'Isle and Buache, must be considered speculative or positivist geographers. Speculative geography was a genre of mapmaking that evolved in Europe, particularly Paris, in the middle to late 18th century. Cartographers in this genre would fill in unknown lands with theories based on their knowledge of cartography, personal geographical theories, and often dubious primary source material gathered by explorers. This approach, which attempted to use the known to validate the unknown, naturally engendered rivalries. Vaugondy's feuds with other cartographers, most specifically Phillipe Buache, resulted in numerous conflicting papers presented before the Academie des Sciences, of which both were members. The era of speculative cartography effectively ended with the late 18th-century explorations of Captain Cook, Jean Francois de Galaup de La Perouse, and George Vancouver. After Didier died, his maps were acquired by Jean-Baptiste Fortin, who in 1787 sold them to Charles-François Delamarche (1740 - 1817). While Delamarche prospered from the Vaugondy maps, he defrauded Vaugondy's window Marie Louise Rosalie Dangy of her rightful inheritance and may even have killed her. More by this mapmaker...

Source


Robert de Vaugondy, G., Atlas Portatif, Universel, et Militaire, (Paris: Vaugondy, Durand, Pissot) 1749.    

Condition


Very good. Blank on verso. Original press mark visible.

References


Pedley, M. S., Bel et Utile, p. 185, 311.