1836 Brue and Picquet Map of the United States

Highlights numerous Native American tribes in the American West, including the Sioux and Osage.

This is an 1836 Adrien-Hubert Brué and Charles Picquet map of the United States. The map depicts the region from the Black Hills to the Atlantic Ocean and from Canada to Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Beautifully engraved, myriad cities, towns, and villages are labeled throughout, along with rivers, lakes, and other physical features. The Northwest Territory is labeled, along with each of the states the part of the Union. West of Arkansas and Missouri, numerous American Indian Districts and tribes are identified, including the District of the Sioux, the District of the Osage, and the District of the Mandans. Although by 1836 the Texas Revolution (1835 - 1836) had already begun, its outcome was anything but certain and so Texas here is shown as part of Mexico. Two inset maps are situated in the lower right corner, with one illustrating the peninsula of Florida and the Florida Keys, and the other depicting Newfoundland and a part of Labrador. A block of text in the lower left corner situates the map in the context of the atlas published by Picquet. Picquet's seal is located along the right border just above the title.

This map first appears in 1832. Brue himself died in 1832, the year of his map's first issue, but his publisher, Charles Picquet, continued to update and reissue his maps weill into the 1840s. The present example is the 1836 second edition.

Cartographers

Adrien-Hubert Brué (March 20, 1786 – July 16, 1832) was a prominent French cartographer and geographer of the early 19th century. Born in Paris, Brué went to sea as a cabin boy at the age of twelve and, at fourteen, joined the Naturaliste, one of the two principal vessels of the Baudin Expedition (1800 - 1804) to the South Pacific. After returning to France, he devoted himself to cartography, earning distinction for the exceptional clarity, precision, and elegance of his maps. Brué drew many of his maps directly onto the copperplate, an innovative method he dubbed encyprotype. This technique produced exceptionally fine outlines, facilitated the careful revision of topography and relief, and allowed waterways to be differentiated by the weight of their engraved lines, making their relative importance immediately apparent. Brué eventually received the prestigious title Géographe du Roi, which he frequently appended to his signature, and in that capacity contributed to thousands of maps and numerous important atlases. Suffering from declining health, he retired to Sceaux, outside Paris, in search of cleaner air, but died there during the cholera epidemic of 1832. He was a member of the Central Commission of the Société de Géographie de Paris and an associate of the Geographical Society of London. Brué left numerous works unfinished at his death; several were published posthumously by his widow in 1834, before she transferred the business to Pierre-Jacques Picquet, son and successor of Brué's former associate Charles Picquet (1771 - 1827). Brué's maps continued to be revised and republished for decades, attesting to their enduring authority and commercial importance.   Further Details...

Charles Picquet (April 15, 1771 – January 15, 1827) was a French cartographer active in Paris during the Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic Eras. Picquet was born in Romagna-sous-Montfaucon, Meuse, France. From about 1798 Picquet supplied maps to the Dépôt de la Guerre. From 1806 he was appointed to Napoleon's Cabinet Topographique. Being politically dexterous, he was able to retain this position after the fall of Napoleon under both Louis XVIII and Charles X. Under Louis XVIII he also obtained the Brevet de Géographe Ordinaire du Cabinet Topographique. He worked with the cartographer Adrien-Hubert Brué (1787 - 1832) on a major atlas project. When Charles Picquet died in 1827, his son, Pierre-Jacques Picquet, continued to publish under his father's imprint name well into the middle part of the 19th century. From roughly 1839, one J. Barthelemier also claimed to be the 'seul acquéreur et successor' of the 'ancienne maison Ch. Picquet' though it is unclear if he succeeded the younger Picquet or challenged his claim to succession. Barthelemier only published maps infrequently until the late 1850s, after which he maintained a more steady output until the early-mid 1870s.   Further Details...

Source

Brue, A., Atlas universel de geographie physique, politique, ancienne et moderne. (Paris: Picquet) 1836.    

Condition

Very good. Light wear along original centerfold. Light transference. Blank on verso.

References

OCLC 727082385. Wheat, C. I., Mapping of the Transmississippi West, 1540 – 1861, #420. Rumsey 2741.059.