1883 Jacques Élisée Reclus Anarchist Map of the Middle East

The Middle East by an Anarchical anti-authoritarian internationalist.

This beautifully detailed 1883 map of the Middle East is the work of geographer, anarchist, free union advocate, and nudist Jacques Élisée Reclus, produced in conjunction with fellow anarchist Charles Eugène Perron as part of Reclus's nineteen-volume Nouvelle Géographie Universelle. Reclus' maps were widely admired for their scientific precision and detail; his atlas was notable for its reflection and support of anti-authoritarian internationalism.

A Closer Look

The map's focus is a very traditional representation of the Middle East, extending from the Aegean Sea and the Nile River Valley in the west to the Indus watershed in the east. The map is printed in color, with shading indicating topographical changes. Meticulous attention to detail is given to rivers and their tributaries. Cities are marked and named; broad regions are defined culturally and geographically. There are no national borders. In keeping with Reclus' internationalism, his maps focused on the effects of geographic features on human population - and the primacy of those physical elements over political boundaries. The present map is a superb expression of this.

Publication History and Census

This map was drafted by Charles Perron in collaboration with Jacques Élisée Reclus for inclusion in the 1883-4 ninth volume of Reclus' 19-volume Nouvelle Géographie Universelle. The atlas is well represented in institutional collections, although the separate map has seldom been cataloged.

Cartographers

Jacques Élisée Reclus (March 15, 1830 - July 4, 1905) was a French geographer and anarchist. His massive, nineteen-volume Nouvelle Géographie universelle would win him the acclaim of the Paris Geographical Society, in spite of his having been banished from the country for his anarchist activism. He was born at Sainte-Foy-la-Grande to a Protestant family of pastors and teachers. From early on, his political views would take a toll on his pursuits, contributing to his expulsion from his baccalaureate in Sainte-Foy. He relocated to Berlin, and completed his studies in the University there, studying geography among other disciplines. He stayed out of France during Louis-Napoléon's coup and the authoritarian suppressions that followed; instead, he traveled in Great Britain and the Americas. He worked as a tutor for American cousins in Louisiana between 1853 and 1856, and would publish an account of his passage through the Mississippi Delta and his visit to New Orleans. Afterwards, he returned to Paris, where he wrote and published his geographical studies. During the 1870-71 Siege of Paris, Reclus would serve in the National Guard, aiding Félix Nadar in his efforts to use hot air balloons to provide Parisians with a link to the world beyond the siege. A public supporter of the Paris Commune, he would be taken prisoner by the Versailles government and banished from France for life. He resettled in Switzerland, where he would produce most of his Nouvelle Géographie, which was notable in focusing on the effects of geographic features on human population - and the primacy of those physical elements over political boundaries, presaging the modern discipline of bioregionalism. He would also publish an anarchist newspaper - Le Travailleur - and would initiate a movement in support of 'free unions' to replace formal marriage, on both anarchist and feminist grounds. He encouraged his daughters to choose such unions, and after the death of his first wife would do so himself. He operated his home as a haven for worldwide dissidents, notably Luigi Galleani. He relocated to Brussels upon his appointment as chair of comparative geography at the Free University of Brussels in 1894. Before his death in 1905, he completed his capstone work, L'Homme et la terre, which explored further the role of the environment in shaping human development.   Further Details...

Charles Eugène Perron (December 6, 1837 - March 7, 1909) was a Swiss journalist, cartographer, and painter. While he was a primary Swiss figure of anti-authoritarian internationalism, he is primarily known for his cartographic collaboration with fellow geographer-anarchist Jacques Élisée Reclus (March 15, 1830 - July 4, 1905), for whom Perron was the primary mapmaker. He was born in a suburb of Geneva; his painter father trained him in that art; he was further trained as an enamel painter. At twenty, he traveled to Russia, remaining for five years. On his return, he set up his own trade as an enamel painter and photographic retoucher. In 1872, he began drawing maps, from the start in collaboration with Reclus as a contribution to the latter geographer's journal Le Travailleur. He would go on to draw most of the maps of Reclus' Nouvelle Géographie universelle The two geographers amassed an impressive map collection; when Reclus returned to Paris, he left the collection with Perron. He, in turn, would donate the collection to the city of Geneva in 1893. Politically, his return to Geneva was marked by his association with Russian political refugees and social activists, and he joined the International Workingmen's Association at that time. He remained active, participating in the first congress of the International League for Peace and Freedom (September 1867) and becoming a delegate to the third congress of the Brussels International in 1868. He co-founded the newspaper L'Égalité in 1869 and would contribute to the journal. His activism extended beyond the printed page: in 1871, he aided in the emigration of French Communards to Switzerland and took part in the Bern commemoration of the Commune in 1877, which ended in a brawl with the police.   Further Details...

Source

Reclus, E., Nouvelle Geographie Universelle T. LX., (Paris) 1883.    

Condition

Excellent.

References

OCLC 317726565.