1775 Mannevillette Chart of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Earliest Printed Chart of Jeddah Harbor. (Makkah)

This is the earliest specific chart of the port of Jeddah, Arabia. It was produced by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Denis d'Après de Mannevillette for inclusion in his 1775 Neptune Oriental. Now the second-largest city in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah was for centuries the most critical port on the Red Sea of the Arabian Peninsula and the primary water gateway for Muslim pilgrims en route to Mecca. Despite its importance for European traders reaching eastwards, non-Muslim access to the city was strictly limited, resulting in the absence of printed charts or views of the city itself prior to this work.

A Closer Look

The north-oriented chart meticulously details the approaches to Jeddah's port. The chart is minimally decorated, with no compass rose and a spare network of rhumb lines. The need for such a chart as this is immediately self-evident: the broad, west-facing bay leading to Jeddah is filled with shallows, shoals, and islands. Abundant depth soundings thread the treacherous channels, revealing only one course capable of receiving large vessels safely; the anchorages for that route are marked and intriguingly revealing. There are two anchorages for boats (Moullage des Bateaux), and for Muslims (Moullage des Maures), both placed about half a league from Jeddah itself. Meanwhile, more than a league away from the city and outside the harbor's shoals, is the Mouillage des Européens (anchorage for Europeans). With the infidel kept at such a distance, it is perhaps less surprising that this is the earliest contemporary depiction of the city, despite not being mapped in detail, as it is indicated only by its defensive outer wall. This stands in contrast with the depiction of cities in many of Mannevillette's other charts, which often show neatly laid-out city streets. The delicately-etched coastal profile to the right of the harbor chart provides the reader with the view available to the mariners at their distant anchorage.

Publication History and Census

This chart was engraved for inclusion in the 1775 posthumous and much-expanded edition of Apres de Mannevillette's Neptune Oriental. We see it appearing in later editions, but with differing letterpress pagination at the upper right. We see only five separate examples cataloged in OCLC: the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Sächsische Landesbibliothek, the Universiteit Leiden, the British Library, and the Qatar National Library. The chart is rare on the market.

Cartographer

Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Denis d'Après de Mannevillette (February 11, 1707 - March 1, 1780) was a French sailor, navigator, and hydrographer active in the mid-18th century. Mannevillette was born in Le Havre to a family of wealthy seafarers. He completed his first major voyage at 12, when he accompanied his father, Jean-Baptiste-Claude d'Après de Blangy, a captain of the Compagnie des Indes (French East India Company) vessel Solide to Bengal. On his return to France, he he studied mathematics and navigation in Paris under Joseph Nicholas De L'Isle (1688 - 1768) before returning to the sea at 19 as a fourth officer as on the merchant vessel Marechel d'Estrees. Mannevillette himself eventually attained the rank of Captain with the Compagnie des Indes. In the course of numerous voyages around Africa to India and China, Mannevillette collected and revised numerous nautical charts. His sophisticated use of the most modern instruments, most specifically the Octant or English Quarter, and keen mathematical mind, enabled Mannevillette to correct many significant errors common to earlier maps. These updates were eventually compiled and published in Mannevillette's most significant work, the 1745 Le Neptune Oriental. The 1745 Neptune Oriental was commissioned by the Compagnie des Indes and its production earned Mannevillette admission into the Academy of Sciences. The atlas was well received, but shortly after publication, most unsold examples were destroyed by the French Admiralty, who considered the secrets of East Indian navigation too dangerous for dissemination. In 1762 the Compagnie des Indes appointed Mannevillette director of chart at Lorient. In 1767 King Louis XV conferred the Order of St. Michael upon him and made him an associate of the Royal Marine Academy. In the 30 years following his first publication of Le Neptune Oriental, Mannevillette worked doggedly with his lifelong friend, Alexander Dalrymple (1737 - 1808) to update his original work with new and improved charts. In 1775, he republished his opus in a greatly expanded format - by this time nautical information was less tightly guarded. Mannevillette died on March 1, 1780 at 75 years of age.   Further Details...

Source

Après de Mannevillette, Jean-Baptiste-Nicolas-Denis, Neptune Oriental, (Paris: Dépôt Générale de la Marine) 1775.    

Le Neptune Oriental was a large-scale maritime atlas first issued in 1745 by Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Denis d'Après de Mannevillette, a wealthy French sailor and hydrographer. From his first voyage as an adult in 1726, Mannevillette collected, revised, and created new nautical charts. These he published 20 years later in the first edition of Le Neptune Oriental, an important work issued for the Compagnie des Indes (French East India Company), for whom Mannevillette was a captain. The first edition of Le Neptune Oriental, containing 25 charts, was received and earned him accolades in both navigational and scientific circles. Nonetheless, according to Manonmani Filliozat, writing in the Indian Journal of the History of Science,

The French Admiralty, considering that the Neptune Oriental was too dangerous ... ordered the remaining copies to be destroyed. (#292, 1994, p. 341)

This accounts somewhat for the extreme scarcity of the first edition and all of the maps contained therein. We also note a supportive comment in a 1763 catalog of maps and charts issued by the French chart and map dealer Roch-Joseph Julien (1745 - 1779). Mannevillette nonetheless continued to collect and revise charts for the next 30 years, often working with the important English cartographer Alexander Dalrymple (1737 - 1808). In 1775, he issued a greatly expanded and updated second edition of Le Neptune Oriental. The new edition featured an additional 41 charts, making a total of 63 charts. This edition also proved popular and was widely disseminated. As noted by multiple cartobibliographers, there are variations between examples, and no two seem to be identical, suggesting that many were compiled to order, often with additional maps that could be purchased but which were not in the standard collation. The second edition was published in Paris by Demonville and in Brest by Malassis. In 1781, one year after Mannevillette's, another work, Supplement au Neptune Oriental was issued, also by Demonville and Malassis.

Condition

Excellent. Faint marginal toning, else fine with a sharp strike.

References

OCLC 495050340. Rumsey 13102.037 (1810 edition).