1674 Justel / Blome Map of the British Colonies in North America

Henri Justel (1620 - 1693) was a French scholar, royal administrator, bibliophile and librarian. The son of the scholar Christophe Justel, he was a well-connected correspondent, exchanging letters with the likes of Locke, Boyle, Halley and Oldenburg of the Royal Society, and also Leibniz and Arnauld. He achieved position as secretary of Louis XIV. Nevertheless, he had to leave France for refuge in England in 1681 in anticipation of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (he was Huguenot.) In England he became a royal librarian at St. James's Palace, serving under William III. Among his works was a collection of travels (Recueil De Divers Voyages Faits En Afrique Et En L'Amerique) inspired by his friendship with traveller Melchisédech Thévenot. More by this mapmaker...

Richard Blome (1635 - 1705) was an important English illustrator, publisher, and cartographer active throughout the late 17th and early 18th century. Blome's father, Richard Bloome (Blome changed the spelling), was a member of the London Stationer's Company, to which Blome was admitted by patrimony. He established himself independently in 1663, producing multiple engravings for various travel narratives and histories. He produced several atlases based on the works of French cartographers, most notably Nicholas Sanson, as well as the re-edited issued of the cartographic works of John Speed, William Camden, and others. Blome was harshly criticized in his lifetime (and later) for not producing original work though it is likely that this stems from the financial difficulties in publishing atlas works without a significant backer. It is not by chance that many cartographers died bankrupt, as engraving, copper plates, and original survey work were expensive propositions. Scholar Ashley Baynton-Williams comments (Map Forum, vol.9)

It would be hard to claim a successful career for Blome, but he occupies a very important position in the history of the English map-trade of the seventeenth century. He was the first publisher in England for 40 years to prepare a new folio world atlas, the first in over sixty years to publish a new set of (albeit small) folio county maps, the first to seriously plan an illustrated description of London, and the first to plan a series of volumes related to the various Continents of the World. Moreover, all this from one who came from a publishing rather than cartographic background.

René Michault (fl. 1668 - c. 1685) was a French copperplate engraver and calligrapher active in Paris in the second part of the 17th century. He is considered one of the best pupils of the great calligraphic master Nicolas Jarré. His work appears on the maps of Sanson, De Fer, Du Val, and Justel. Learn More...