1859 Fontanelle Fantasy Map of the Empire of Poetry

This is an 1859 reprint of a 1696 Bernard de Fontanelle fantasy map of the Empire of Poetry (L'Empire de la Poesie). The map depicts every region in this allegorical country, which include the Province of High Poetry (Province de la haute Poesie), the Province of Low Poetry (Province de la basse Poesie), the Province of Imitation (Province de l'Imitation) and the Province of False Thoughts Province des Pensees fausses). The capital of this fantastical nation is the Epic Poem (le Poeme epique) situated in High Poetry, while the cities of Burlesque (Le Burlesque) and Comedy (La comedie) are in Low Poetry. The Desert of Good Sense (Desert du bon Sens), which could also be translated as the Desert of Right Meanings, separates High and Low Poetry, while the Mountains of Tragedy form the border between High Poetry and False Thoughts. Two Rivers, Reason and Rhyme, run through the country, although they never converge. The Island of Satire (Isle de la Satire and the Archipelago of Trivia (l'Archipel des Bagatelles) appear in the bay at the bottom of the map.

Publication History and Census

This map was published in an 1859 issue of the French magazine Magasin Pittoresque from the original engraving done by Fontenelle that appeared in the Mercure de France in 1696. We are aware of only one example that is held in an institutional collection at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which is apparently part of a composite atlas of allegorical maps, although we have been unable to confirm this. We can trace only one other instance when this map was on the private market.