![Atlas Nouveau, Contenant Toutes Les Parties du Monde, Ou sont exactement Remarquees les Empires, Monarchies, Royaumes, Etats, Republiques &c. [New Atlas, Containing All the Parts of the World, Where Exactly Remarked are the Empires, Monarchies, Kingdom, States, Republics, &c.] By Covens & Mortier](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/71061.jpg)
A Massive World Atlas with Important American Maps.
Fine, large edition of the Atlas Nouveau, one of the flagship publications produced by Covens and Mortier.
Published by the Covens and Mortier firm from 1730 onwards, the Atlas Nouveau inherited the great maps of Guillaume de L'Isle and was steadily updated with new maps being published throughout Europe. The atlas was notable for a number of reasons, and in particular, the section on the Americas was particularly well-developed. This example of the atlas has some twelve maps of the continent, including Covens and Mortier's editions of de L'Isle's revolutionary maps of Louisiana and Mexico. Other far-flung regions are equally well attended to, making this one of the most well-balanced 18th-century atlases.
The atlas begins with the elaborately illustrated allegorical title page by Romaine de Hooghe, the printed title for the Atlas Nouveau, and the printed title for Sanson's Introduction. The maps include a mappemonde, two polar maps, maps of the continents, and numerous regional maps of Europe (with a focus on France, including a beautiful folded plan of Paris), and towards the end of the atlas, maps of the ancient world.
The atlas was first published in 1730 with only some 48 maps, but a second edition also appeared that year with 56 maps. By 1733 it had 75 maps, but the maps of the Americas remained heavily focused on the maps inherited from De L'Isle. The c. 1741 edition saw the addition of many new maps, and the largest edition appeared in c. 1757, with some 138 maps. The next and final edition, in c. 1774, was reduced to a minuscule 43 maps.
This example follows in this variable tradition. While it has the number of maps called for by Koeman C&M 6 (107), there are a number of features that show that it wasn't printed in that year. Most importantly, the world map shows the Sea of the West, a concept that wasn't introduced until after c. 1750. In addition, the title page for the Introduction á la Geographie by Sanson has the world map in a mirrored impression that first appears in c. 1757 according to Koeman. Also, the title page is undated, unlike for the 1741 edition. Thus, it is more probable that the atlas dates from c. 1757.
Notable Maps
Carte d'Amerique.
Wagner describes this 1739 state of the map under as follows, while mentioning there was also a 1722 issue:
The Mediterranean Sea of California has disappeared. Delisle retained Cabrillo's B. de Pinos and introduced a few, the I. Ste. Anne, the B. de St. Martin, and the B. de la Madelaine, from other maps. It seems likely that he had read the account of the Vizcaino expedition in Torquemada, as he corrected one of the Briggs names, the B. de las Arenas to B. de Belenas and inserted the Entrée decouverte par Martin d'Aguilar. On the Sonora coast the names are much the same as those on his 1700 map with a few additions from Kino's map and other sources in Sonora - Wagner, Cartography of the Northwest Coast of America.
Carte de la Louisiane et du Cours du Mississipi.
This is the Covens and Mortier edition of the most significant map of the Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes published in the early part of the 18th century. The map in the present atlas is a faithful copy of De L'Isle's second edition of the map (the first map to include New Orleans). De L'Isle's map was a towering landmark in the history of the mapping of North America. It significantly improved the depiction of the Mississippi River Valley and in its first edition was the first map to name Texas.
This map contains the first indications of the explorations of De Soto, Cavelier, Tonty, Moscoso, and Denis. It included the best depiction of the Mississippi River to date, for the first time presenting a roughly accurate delineation of its entire length as well as a semblance of accuracy about many of its tributaries. As mentioned above, it was also the first map to include the name Texas with the legend "Mission de los Teijas establie en 1716," indicating a Mission established in 1716.
Carte du Mexique et de la Floride des Terres Angloises et des Isles Antilles du Cours et des Environs de la Riviere de Mississipi.
This is an influential map based on Delisle's 1703 map. It shows the region from the Great Lakes south to the northern coast of South America, and New Mexico eastward.
Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des Decouvertes qui y ont été faites.
This is Covens and Mortier's edition of De L'Isle's seminal map of Canada, the Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. This was by far one of the most influential maps of Canada to appear in the 18th century.
De L'Isle's map is of seminal importance for a number of regions, including the Great Lakes and the Rocky Mountains. Kershaw states that the map is:
One of the most outstanding maps of Canada of the 17th and early 18th Centuries . . . De L'Isle's careful research resulted in the first map of Canada to present the whole of the Great Lakes correctly. In addition, the position of the lakes relative to Hudson's Bay is also correct and the Avalon Peninsula is shown much more realistically than on previous maps of Canada. Of considerable significance, the geography of the coastal regions of James and Hudson Bays, togther with their major rivers systems, is presented by De L'Isle with a surprising degree of accuracy.
Of equal note, the map also includes one of the earliest references to the Rocky Mountains, the "Riviere Longue" and other features to the west, based on the reports of Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce, Baron de Lahontan. Lahontan (1666-1715) served in the French military in Canada where he traveled extensively in the Wisconsin, Minnesota and the upper Mississippi Valley. His Nouveaux voyages dans l'Amérique septentrionale (1703) was an immensely popular, if somewhat fanciful account, of his travels. While acknowledging the western terminus of his travels, Lahontan distilled Native American reports of a great river, flowing to high mountains, with a great body of salt water beyond the mountains. Lahontan's account of these reports convinced many of the world's greatest intellects of the existence of this mythical waterway, which resulted in his account being accepted and incorporated by most of the major mapmakers of the period.
Conclusion
In sum, the book represents a remarkable and massive collection of beautifully printed engraved maps by one of Amsterdam's premier cartographic publishers of the 18th century.
Guillaume De L'Isle (1675-1726) is probably the greatest figure in French cartography. Having learned geography from his father Claude, by the age of eight or nine he could draw maps to demonstrate ancient history. He studied mathematics and astronomy under Cassini, from whom he received a superb grounding in scientific cartography—the hallmark of his work. His first atlas was published in ca. 1700. In 1702 he was elected a member of the Academie Royale des Sciences and in 1718 he became Premier Geographe du Roi.
De L'Isle's work was important as marking a transition from the maps of the Dutch school, which were highly decorative and artistically-orientated, to a more scientific approach. He reduced the importance given to the decorative elements in maps, and emphasized the scientific base on which they were constructed. His maps of the newly explored parts of the world reflect the most up-to-date information available and did not contain fanciful detail in the absence of solid information. It can be fairly said that he was truly the father of the modern school of cartography at the commercial level.
De L’Isle also played a prominent part in the recalculation of latitude and longitude, based on the most recent celestial observations. His major contribution was in collating and incorporating this latitudinal and longitudinal information in his maps, setting a new standard of accuracy, quickly followed by many of his contemporaries. Guillaume De L’Isle’s work was widely copied by other mapmakers of the period, including Chatelain, Covens & Mortier, and Albrizzi.
Covens & Mortier was one of the largest and most successful publishing firms in Dutch history and continued in business for over a century. Pierre Mortier the Elder (1661-1711) had obtained a privilege in 1690 to distribute the works of French geographers in the Netherlands. After his widow continued the business for several years, Cornelis (1699-1783) took over in 1719.
In 1721, Mortier forged a partnership with Johannes Covens (1697-1774), who had recently married Cornelis’ sister. They published under the joint name of Covens & Mortier. In 1774, upon the death of his father, Johannes Covens II (1722-1794) took over his father’s share. In 1778, the company changed its name to J. Covens & Zoon, or J. Covens & Son.
Covens II’s son, Cornelis (1764-1825), later inherited the business and brought Petrus Mortier IV back into the fold. Petrus was the great-grandson of Petrus Mortier I. From 1794, the business was called Mortier, Covens & Zoon, or Mortier, Covens, & Son.
The business specialized in publishing French geographers including Deslisle, Jaillot, Janssonius, and Sanson. They also published atlases, for example a 1725 reissue of Frederik de Wit’s Atlas Major and an atlas, with additions, from the works of Guillaume Delisle. There were also Covens & Mortier pocket atlases and town atlases. The company profited from acquiring plates from other geographers as well. For example, the purchased Pieter van der Aa’s plates in 1730. Finally, they also compiled a few maps in house. At their height, they had the largest collection of geographic prints ever assembled in Amsterdam.