[proof state] Carte topographique de la Palestine / Dressée d’après la carte topographique levée par le savant Jacotin…

Date: 1847
Place: Brussels
Dimensions: 74 x 91 cm (29 x 35.8 in)
Condition Rating: VG+

Out of stock

SKU: NL-00555 Category:

Unrecorded proof state of the Vandermaelen-Jacotin map of Palestine.

Details

This is an unrecorded proof state of this map: https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agdm/id/4391/, which was prepared by Jean van de Cotte and published by the Vandermaelen firm in Brussels.

The geography presented on the map draws heavily on the work of the illustrious Pierre Jacotin, who lead a team of French army surveyors during Napoleon’s invasion of 1799, and accumulated a wealth of information during the expeditions of Bonaparte, Murat, and Klér. Van de Cotte also relied on an influential 1835 map of Palestine by the famous mapmaker Heinrich Berghaus. Curiously, he has ignored the cartographic advances of Robinson and Kiepert.

An inset in the lower right corner features Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and environs, with an emphasis on biblical sites.

This proof state features all the geography and toponyms of the landscape, but is without the title, legend, and scale bars.

Cartographer(s):

Philippe Vandermaelen

Philippe Vandermaelen (1795–1869) was a Belgian geographer.

Supported by the fortune of his parents and assisted by his brother, Vandermaelen built a spacious geographical Institute in 1829, in which he installed a map-drawing section, a library, and a museum.

Pierre Jacotin

Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was named director of all the surveyors and geographers working in the Nile Valley in 1799 during the campaign in Egypt of Napoleon. Later on, he also prepared maps of Palestine during Napoleon’s campaign there.

After his return from Egypt, Jacotin worked on preparing the plates for publication, but in 1808 Napoleon formally made them state secrets and forbade publication. This was apparently connected with Napoleon’s efforts at the time to establish an alliance with the Ottomans. It was not until 1817 that the engraved plates could be published.

Rare Maps by Jean van de Cotte

Jean van de Cotte was an accomplished cartographer active in the mid-19th century.

Condition Description

Large scale folding map backed on brown linen.

References

For the published version, OCLC (#920682475) shows only a single institutional holding, at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.