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Description

Variant edition with manuscript annotations, of the most important 18th Century French chart of Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland, by the French Royal Hydrographer Bellin.

This beautfully engraved sea chart embraces the entire Gulf of St. Lawrence, the gateway to French North America, and was made shortly before the Seven Years' War (1756-63) which brought the region under British control. The chart features the entire island of Newfoundland, the complete shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and includes Isle St. Jean (Prince Edward Island), Isle Royale (Cape Breton Island) and the Pays Des Esquimaux (Lower Labrador), as well as the lower St. Lawrence River Estuary, the Gaspe Peninsula and Anticosti Island. Notable sites include Louisbourg on Isle Royale, the massive French fortress built in 1720. The fort fell to the British in 1745, before being returned to France in 1748. Also shown is St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland, England's oldest colony, and Port La Joie, the main French town of Isle St. Jean. Elegantly cut rhumb lines traverse the chart, a signature stylistic detail of Bellin's work.

While Newfoundland was generally a British possession, the rest of the area shown was part of France's North American Empire. The chart, compiled by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-72), the hydrogrpher to Louis XV, was based on the finest available French sea charts, although it contained notable inaccuracies, as few of these were made from scientific surveys. Bellin's manuscripts, on which the present chart is based, are today preserved at the Bibliotheque nationale de France (Paris).

The present chart, printed in 1754, was a region of major theatre conflict. Its importance was that it was the finest printed chart available to French and British mariners during the Seven Years' War. The British successfully besieged Louisbourg in 1758, and sailed up the St. Lawrence to take Quebec City in 1759. In 1762, the French briefly seized St. John's, Newfoundland, from the British. Bellin's map would remain the chart of record until Samuel Holland's scientific surveys were published as part of J.F.W. Des Barres Atlantic Neptune (London, 1775-84).

This particular example of the chart features contemporary manuscript additions of shipping tracks and positions on the Grand Banks, the Green Bank, near St. Pierre & Miquelon and in the Cabot Strait, between Newfoundland and Cape Breton Island. Done in red crayon and pencil, these annotations likely relate to the activities of a fishing vessel, as the itinerary focuses on key fishing grounds. These manuscript additions attest to its practical role as the chart of record for the region during the mid-18th Century.

Condition Description
Manuscript annotations between Isle Royale and Newfoundland.
Reference
Kershaw, K.A. #586.
Jacques Nicolas Bellin Biography

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at only the age of 18, he was appointed Hydrographer to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King.

During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Dépôt was the one of the most active centers for the production of sea charts and maps in Europe. Their output included a folio-format sea atlas of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea atlases of the world, including the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame and distinction all over Europe and were republished throughout the eighteenth and even in the nineteenth century.

Bellin also produced smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely-detailed charts. He also contributed a number of maps for the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost.

Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, cementing France's leading role in European cartography and geography during this period. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers across the continent.