Sign In

- Or use -
Forgot Password Create Account
This item has been sold, but you can enter your email address to be notified if another example becomes available.
Description

Detailed antique map of the region centering on the Parana and Paraguay Rivers and the Rio de la Plata. The map is delicately colored and carefully engraved. Lines of longitude and latitude are shown. Numerous rivers and geographical features are named, and relief is shown pictorially.

The map extends northwards to include Rio Janeiro and south to Buenos Aires and extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Also shows Salta, Mendoca, La Paz, and several other major cities in the region. Includes a decorative title cartouche. This was one of the maps produced by Nicolas Belli for n the second edition of his Petite Atlas Maritime.

Condition Description
Original hand-color. Minor toning.
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.