1833 Depot de la Marine Harbor Chart of Montevideo, Uruguay

Early Chart of the Montevideo Road it its First Edition.

This is a rare first-edition first-state of the Depot de la Marine nautical chart or map of Montevideo and its approaches, printed in 1833 based on the 1831 surveys of Cyprien-Gabriel Le Bourguignon-Duperré. Executed just after Uruguay's 1830 ratification of its first constitution, this state-of-the-art survey provided navigators with a vital tool as the new nation opened its doors to international maritime trade.

A Closer Look

This large, detailed work presents the Rio de la Plata coast of Uruguay from Punta Yeguas in the west to the coast of Punta Carretas, beyond Punta Brava. Montevideo, here comprising only the walled and fortified Ciudad Vieja, is shown with its street grid on its peninsula. The chart offers an unusual amount of inland coastal information, including villages overlooking Montevideo Bay; inland from the Ciudad Vieja, the town of Cordón is named. The coastal topography is presented in detail; across the bay from Montevideo, the Cerro de Montevideo and its lighthouse are very prominent. The Punta Brava lighthouse does not yet appear, but there is a fortification there. The chart includes a multiplicity of depth soundings and shows rocky shallows near the city approaches.

Publication History and Census

This chart was published by the Depot de la Marine in 1833. It remained in use long after, and a subsequent c. 1880 updated edition followed. We find no examples of this chart in institutional collections, and have never before encountered this first-edition first-state. The later edition comes up occasionally.

Cartographer

Dépôt des Cartes et Plans de la Marine (fl. 1720 - present), often called the Dépôt Général de la Marine, was a French hydrographic mapping organization founded in 1720 under Charles-Hercule of Albert de Luynes (1674 - 1734). Much like the U.S. Coast Survey, the British Admiralty, and the Spanish Deposito Hydrografico, the Dépôt was initiated as a storehouse and distribution center of existing nautical and marine charts. Eventually the Dépôt initiated its own mapping activities in an attempt to improve and expand upon existing material. Some of the more prominent cartographers and hydrographers associated with the of Dépôt Générale des Cartes were, Philippe Buache, Jacques-Nicholas Bellin, Giovanni Rizzi-Zannoni, Rigobert Bonne, and Jean Nicolas Buache.   Further Details...

Condition

Fine. Generous margins.

References

Not in OCLC. Rumsey 15934.498.