WESTERN HEMISPHERE 1787 BONNE & DESMAREST ANTIQUE WORLD MAP ON POLAR PROJECTION

Mappe Monde, Sur Un Plan Horisontal Situé àm 45d. de Latitude Nord. - Hémisphère Occidental.

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual 1787 Rigobert Bonne & Nicolas Desmarest's copper engraved World map depicting the southern regions of North America, South America, the South Pacific Ocean, Australia and New Zealand, drawn with a south polar projection. Australia is named Nouvelle Hollande and is still connected to Terre de Diemen. Two spheres are located on either side of the central chart, showing the circles around the earth of the latitudes, tropics, equator, zodiac and horizons. 

Source: Rigobert Bonne & Nicolas Desmarest. Atlas Encyclopédique contenant la géographie ancienne et moderne. Paris: Hotel de Thou 1787-1788.

Date: 1787 ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 44,1 x 31,8

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains and wiremarks. Map old original colored. Wide margins.  Small foxing and browning. Map folded. Conditions are as you can see in the images. 

Mapmakers: Rigobert Bonne (October 6, 1727 - September 2, 1794) was one of the most important French cartographers of the late 18th century. Bonne was born in Ardennes à Raucourt, France. He taught himself mathematics and by eighteen was a working engineer. During the War of the Austrian Succession (1740 - 1748) he served as a military engineer at Berg-op-Zoom. It the subsequent years Bonne became one of the most respected masters of mathematics, physics, and geography in Paris. In 1773, Bonne succeeded Jacques-Nicolas Bellin as Royal Cartographer to France in the office of the Hydrographer at the Depôt de la Marine. Working in his official capacity, Bonne compiled some of the most detailed and accurate maps of the period - most on an equal-area projection known erroneously as the 'Bonne Projection.' Bonne's work represents an important step in the evolution of the cartographic ideology away from the decorative work of the 17th and early 18th century towards a more scientific and practical aesthetic. While mostly focusing on coastal regions, the work of Bonne is highly regarded for its detail, historical importance, and overall aesthetic appeal. Bonne died of edema in 1794, but his son Charles-Marie Rigobert Bonne continued to publish his work well after his death.

Nicolas Desmarest (16 September 1725 – 20 September 1815) was a French geologist and contributor to the Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, in particular, the multi-volume Géographie-physique. Desmarest was born in Soulaines, in the department of Aube. Of humble parentage, he was educated at the College of the Oratorians of Troyes and Paris. Taking full advantage of the instruction he received, he was able to support himself by teaching, and to continue his studies independently. Buffon's Theory of the Earth interested him, and in 1753 he successfully competed for a prize by writing an essay on the ancient connection between England and France. This attracted much attention, and ultimately led to his being employed in studying and reporting on manufactures in different countries, and in 1788 to his appointment as inspector-general of the manufactures of France. He utilized his journeys, travelling on foot, so as to add to his knowledge of the Earth's structure. In 1763 he made observations in Auvergne, recognizing that the prismatic basalts were old lava streams, comparing them with the columns of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland, and referring them to the operations of extinct volcanoes. It was not, however, until 1774, that he published an essay on the subject, accompanied by a geological map, having meanwhile on several occasions revisited the district. He then pointed out the succession of volcanic outbursts and the changes the rocks had undergone through weathering and erosion. As remarked by Sir Archibald Geikie, the doctrine of the origin of valleys by the erosive action of the streams which flow through them was first clearly taught by Desmarest. An enlarged and improved edition of his map of the volcanic region of Auvergne was published after his death, in 1823, by his son Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (1784-1838), who was distinguished as a zoologist, and author of memoirs on recent and fossil crustaceans. He died in Paris.