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

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

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...

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.