ATLAS - ROBERT DE VAUGONDY, GILLES & DIDIER.
Atlas Universel, par M. Robert Geographe ordinaire du Roy, Par M. Robert de Vaugondy son fils Geographe ord. du Roy, et de S.M. Polonaise Duc de Lorraine et de Bar, et Associé de L'Academie Royale des Sciences et belles Lettres de Nancy. Avec Privilege du Roy 1757. A Paris, chez les Auteurs Que de l'Horloge du Palais, Baudet, (1757-58).
Large folio (52,5 x 38 cm.). Bound in a well-prserved contemporary full mottled calf. Back with 8 raised bands, compartments richly gilt. Top and bottom of spine and corners professionally repaired (hardly noticeable). Engraved allegorical titlepage, engraved by Ch. Baquoy (old name erased from cartouche), Advertisement 2 pp., "Preface Historique" including Index and names of subscribers 40 pp. and all 108 double-page engraved maps, all in original outline colouring ( ab. 50 x 60 cm., a few larger, dated between 1750 and 1758). Strong impressions, paper fresh and clean. 2 maps (no. 79 a. 80) have a 10 cm. long tear, but no loss of image.
¶ First edition of one of the most importent 18th Century altases and one of the great achievements of the French Enlightment. "The corpus of their maps displays the finest of eighteenth-century French engraving on copperplate with fine linework and lettering and cleverly designed cartouches which often represents the areas portrayed on the map" - "A number of artisans worked on their design and engraving; several cartouches were engraved and signed by Haussard sisters. Among the most pictorial..are the four found on maps showing the postal routes of Great Britain, France, Garmany, Spain and Portugal. They depict postal carriers en route in richly detailed settings" (Mary S. Pedley) - "Another family of geographical note was the Robert de Vaugondy...who produced their Atlas Universel in 1757 (108 maps), the basic material for which came to the Vaugondys from Pierre Moulard Sanson, grandson of the founder of the family Nicolas...The Court headed by Madame Pompadour supported the venture, there being over six hundred subscribers" (R.V. Tooley). Like Ortelius and Mercator before them, the Vaugondys listed the sources of their maps, which is of incalculable benefit to anyone seeking to understand not only their maps but also those of the period. 8 maps relate to America. - Phillips: 619. - Mary S. Pedley. Bel Et Utile. Works of the Robert de Vaugondy Family of Map makers. 7be.
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