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Details 1752 Vaugondy Map of Germany
$350.00

1752 Vaugondy Map of Lower Saxony (Berlin Lubeck, Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen)

Germany-vaugondy-1752
$125.00
Cercle de Basse Saxe ou sont distingues les Etats de Brunswich, les Duches de Holstien, de Mecklenbourg et des Eveches d'Hildesheim, et d'Halberstadt.  - Main View
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1752 Vaugondy Map of Lower Saxony (Berlin Lubeck, Hamburg, Hanover, Bremen)

Germany-vaugondy-1752


Title


Cercle de Basse Saxe ou sont distingues les Etats de Brunswich, les Duches de Holstien, de Mecklenbourg et des Eveches d'Hildesheim, et d'Halberstadt. 
  1752 (dated)     20 x 21.5 in (50.8 x 54.61 cm)     1 : 735000

Description


This is a fine 1751 map of Lower Saxony, in what is now Central Germany by Robert de Vaugondy. As shown here, Lower Saxony was bordered by Denmark and the Baltic Sea to the north, Westphalia to the west, Pomerania to the Northeast, and the Circle of Upper Saxony to the south and west. It includes the circle of Lower Saxony and the states of Brunswick, Holstein, Dutchies of Mecklenburg and bishoprics of Hildesheim, and Halberstadt, and extends from Halle (Saale) north to Stralsund and from Berlin west as far as Diepholz. The entire region is depicted in extraordinary detailed, offering both topographical and political information, with forests and mountains beautifully rendered in profile.

Lower Saxony was one of the 'imperial circles' created by the Holy Roman Empire in the 1500s. These groupings of regional territories were designed for defensive, tax, and administrative purposes within the Empire. During the French Revolutionary Wars, the Hanoverian Duke and British King George III allied with the Prussians against Napoleon, which nonetheless did not prevent the French ruler from briefly invading and occupying the territory.

A beautifully engraved title cartouche adorns the lower right quadrant of the map with a coat of arms surrounded by floral ornaments and animals. Issued in the 1757 issue of the Atlas Universal. The Atlas Universal was one of the first atlases based upon actual surveys. Therefore, this map is highly accurate (for the period) and has most contemporary town names correct, though historic names are, in many cases, incorrect or omitted.

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. 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. 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...

Condition


Very good. Original platemark visible. Minor wear along original centerfold. Light foxing.

References


Rumsey 3353.059. Pedley, Mary Sponberg Belle et Utile: The Work of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Mapmakers, 261, state 2.