Alain Manesson Mallet was a French cartographer and engineer. He started his career as a soldier in the army of Louis XIV. became a Sergeant-Major in the artillery and an Inspector of Fortifications. His major publications were Description de L'Univers (1683) in 5 volumes contains a wide variety of information, including star maps, maps of the ancient and modern world, and a synopsis of the customs, religion and government of the many nations included in his text. Mallet himself drew most of the figures that were engraved for this book.