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Description

Finely colored example of J.B. Nolin's monumental map of Languedoc, published in 1697.

This remarkable separately issued map provides a detailed contemporary look at one of the largest western engineering projects in the 17th century.

The Canal du Midi, originally called the Canal Royale du Languedoc, was built through southwestern France to connect the Mediterranean with the Atlantic. Extending for 150 miles, it ran from the port of Sete on the Mediterranean to Toulouse on the Garonne River. The project was approved by Royal Decree of Louis XIV in 1666 and took nearly 20 years to complete. It was unquestionably the largest civil engineering project in seventeenth century Europe.

The map includes 58 insets and 59 coats of arms of the men associated with the construction of the canal, along with a history of the project.

Condition Description
Full original color. Some minor browning and toning. Minor tear, repaired in one corner of the map.
Jean-Baptiste Nolin Biography

Jean-Baptiste Nolin (ca. 1657-1708) was a French engraver who worked at the turn of the eighteenth century. Initially trained by Francois de Poilly, his artistic skills caught the eye of Vincenzo Coronelli when the latter was working in France. Coronelli encouraged the young Nolin to engrave his own maps, which he began to do. 

Whereas Nolin was a skilled engraver, he was not an original geographer. He also had a flair for business, adopting monikers like the Geographer to the Duke of Orelans and Engerver to King XIV. He, like many of his contemporaries, borrowed liberally from existing maps. In Nolin’s case, he depended especially on the works of Coronelli and Jean-Nicholas de Tralage, the Sieur de Tillemon. This practice eventually caught Nolin in one of the largest geography scandals of the eighteenth century.

In 1700, Nolin published a large world map which was seen by Claude Delisle, father of the premier mapmaker of his age, Guillaume Delisle. Claude recognized Nolin’s map as being based in part on his son’s work. Guillaume had been working on a manuscript globe for Louis Boucherat, the chancellor of France, with exclusive information about the shape of California and the mouth of the Mississippi River. This information was printed on Nolin’s map. The court ruled in the Delisles’ favor after six years. Nolin had to stop producing that map, but he continued to make others.

Calling Nolin a plagiarist is unfair, as he was engaged in a practice that practically every geographer adopted at the time. Sources were few and copyright laws weak or nonexistent. Nolin’s maps are engraved with considerable skill and are aesthetically engaging.

Nolin’s son, also Jean-Baptiste (1686-1762), continued his father’s business.