SOUTHERN INDIA SRI LANKA 1776 BONNE & LATTRÉ UNUSUAL ANTIQUE COPPER ENGRAVED MAP

Indes II.e Feuille.

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual Rigobert Bonne & Jean Lattré's 1776 copper engraved map of southern India. Covers both the Malabar and Coromandel coasts as well as the Maldives, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), the Andaman Islands, and parts of Sumatra and Southeast Asia. Rhumb lines throughout. Arrows in the Indian Ocean show the direction of prevailing winds during the dry season and the monsoon season. This important Indian Ocean wind system, which blew one way for half the year, and the opposite for the other half, created a critical trade artery from antiquity to pre-modern times. Drawn by R. Bonne for issue as plate no. B 26 in Jean Lattre's 1776 issue of the Atlas Moderne.

Date: 1776 ( undated )

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 47,9 x 36,4

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Paper with chains and wiremarks. Map old original colored. Wide margins. Sheet with browning. Small tears. 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.

Jean Lattré (170x - 178x) was a Paris based bookseller, engraver, globe maker, calligrapher, and map publisher active in the mid to late 18th century. Lattré published a large corpus of maps, globes, and atlases in conjunction with a number of other important French cartographic figures, including Janvier, Zannoni, Bonne and Delamarche. He is also known to have worked with other European cartographers such as William Faden of London and the Italian cartographer Santini. Map piracy and copyright violations were common in 18th century France. Paris court records indicate that Lattré brought charges against several other period map publishers, including fellow Frenchman Desnos and the Italian map engraver Zannoni, both of whom he accused of copying his work. Lattré likes trained his wife Madame Lattré (né Vérard), as an engraver, as a late 18th century trade card promotes the world of 'Lattré et son Epouse.' Lattré's offices and bookshop were located at 20 rue St. Jaques, Paris, France. Later in life he relocated to Bordeaux.