ORIGINAL 1750 ROBERT DE VAUGONDY MAP OF EUROPE -- HAND-COLORED 18TH-CENTURY FRENCH MAP

A very attractive and genuinely early 18th-century map of Europe, titled “L’EUROPE” and signed in the cartouche:

“Par le Sr Robert de Vaugondy / Avec Privilege du Roi / 1750.”

This is an original engraved map dating to 1750, not a later interpretation of an earlier map. Robert de Vaugondy maps from this period are among the characteristic products of the great French school of Enlightenment-era cartography. Contemporary institutional catalogues record Robert de Vaugondy’s L’Europe as a 1750 map, and comparable examples were issued in the geographical work Méthode Abrégée et Facile pour Apprendre la Géographie.

The map displays attractive hand coloring, with colored boundaries and washes distinguishing the principal European states and regions.

EUROPE ON THE EVE OF ENORMOUS POLITICAL CHANGE--

One of the most interesting things about this map is simply its date: 1750.

This is Europe almost exactly at the midpoint of the 18th century--before the American Revolution, before the French Revolution, before Napoleon and long before the emergence of modern Germany and Italy as unified nations.

The map therefore depicts a political geography very different from today’s.

Prominently represented are France, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain and Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, European Russia and the Ottoman Empire, together with the extraordinarily complicated patchwork of states making up central Europe and the Holy Roman Empire.

Especially interesting is Poland, shown as a major European state. The map predates the Partitions of Poland beginning in 1772, which would dramatically alter the political geography of eastern Europe before the end of the century.

THE OTTOMAN FRONTIER--

The southeastern portion is particularly evocative of 18th-century geopolitics.

The map identifies “Turquie en Europe” across substantial portions of southeastern Europe. This is a striking reminder that the Ottoman Empire remained one of the great European and Mediterranean powers in 1750.

The Balkans, Hungary, the Black Sea region and the borderlands between the Ottoman, Habsburg and Russian spheres were among the most strategically important areas of 18th-century Europe.

SCANDINAVIA, RUSSIA & THE BALTIC--

The map extends far north through Norway, Sweden and Finland and eastward across European Russia.

The Baltic region is particularly interesting because this map was produced only a generation after the Great Northern War, which had transformed the balance of power in northern Europe and established Russia as an increasingly dominant European power.

Cities, rivers, coastlines, islands and internal political divisions are densely recorded, giving this small-format map an impressive amount of geographical information.

BRITAIN, IRELAND & WESTERN EUROPE--

The British Isles are particularly nicely delineated, with England, Scotland and Ireland and numerous towns identified.

France, Spain and Portugal are shown in considerable detail, while the Mediterranean contains the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Crete and numerous smaller islands.

The map extends southward into the northern coast of Africa, including the Barbary Coast, making this as much a view of the European Mediterranean world as Europe itself.

ROBERT DE VAUGONDY & FRENCH CARTOGRAPHY--

The Robert de Vaugondy family occupied an important position in 18th-century French cartography. Gilles Robert de Vaugondy and his son Didier produced maps during a period in which French mapmaking enjoyed enormous international prestige.

Their work belongs to the Enlightenment transition toward increasingly systematic geographical compilation based upon contemporary surveys, astronomical observations and the accumulated geographical knowledge of explorers and earlier cartographers.

The David Rumsey collection records numerous maps by Gilles and Didier Robert de Vaugondy from precisely this period, while Princeton University catalogs a 1750 L’Europe under Didier Robert de Vaugondy.

A WONDERFUL MID-18TH-CENTURY DOCUMENT--

Beyond its visual appeal, this map is fascinating because it freezes the political geography of Europe at a particularly consequential moment.

Within the following half-century Europe would experience the Seven Years’ War, the partitions of Poland, the American Revolution, the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. Borders, governments and even ideas about political sovereignty would be profoundly altered.

This map shows the European world before those transformations occurred.

The old political divisions, French place names, engraved lettering, latitude and longitude grid, hand-colored boundaries and wonderfully compact presentation give it all the character one hopes to find in a genuine mid-18th-century map.

CONDITION--

The map shows uniform age toning and use consistent with an original map approximately 275 years old, including toning, small staining/spotting, old folds/creases, edge wear and other age-related imperfections visible in the photographs. There appears to be a more pronounced stained/darkened area toward the upper-right portion.

Importantly, the engraved map itself remains highly legible and the surviving color gives it considerable visual appeal. Nice looking map worthy of display or gift giving.

Please study the photographs carefully, as they are the best description of condition and are considered part of the listing.

DETAILS--

Title: L’Europe

Cartographer: Robert de Vaugondy

Date: 1750 -- dated in the plate

Language: French

Technique: Engraved map with hand coloring

Subject: Europe, Mediterranean, British Isles, Scandinavia, Russia, Ottoman Empire and North Africa.

Period: Mid-18th century / Enlightenment

A wonderful original 1750 map of Europe with substantial historical interest--particularly appealing to collectors of antique maps, European history, French cartography, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, Russia, the Holy Roman Empire and 18th-century prints.

Sheet size c. 7" H x 6 1/2" W.

There are numerous variant engraved versions of this miniature map, possible a dozen or more which appeared in various publications over numerous years, many with different city imprints.

B16095