Roman Numidia and North Africa with Itinerary Roads, d'Anville, 1818
€ 235
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1818
Mapmaker / artist
Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, cartographer
Publisher
Ledoux et Tenré, Paris
Technique
Copper Engraving
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14399-25
What the condition grades mean
Excellent
Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good
Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good
Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair
Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Condition
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and top edges. Foxing over much of the margin. Slight wear at the bottom left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top. Center fold as issued.
About this sheet
An original copper engraved map, uncolored, of Roman North Africa in a long band from the Molochath river to Oea, with the Spanish coast at Carthago Nova in the upper left corner. Dotted roads link the stations across the country. Cirta, Hippo Regius, Carthago, Utica, Sicca Venerea, Zama Regia, Thebeste, Lambaesa, Tamugadi, Sitifi, Capsa, Hadrumetum, Thapsus, Thenae, Sabrata and Oea are placed; the Syrtis Minor, the Libya Palus and the Tritonis Palus lie in the south, and Meninx, also called Girba, sits offshore. The great southern spaces are lettered Solitudines. Long engraved notes in the lower left explain that the map gives all the detail the subject allows, drawn from the ancient itineraries, and discuss the limits of Numidia; they end: Les Numides étaient auparavant divisés en deux Peuples; Massyli dans la partie orientale, et sujets de Masinissa; Massæsyli dans l'autre partie, et sujets de Syphax. A short note at right records that the country called Emporia by Polybius and Livy was later known as Byzacium.
The cartouche at foot reads La Numidie / Pour l'Histoire Romaine / de Rollin / par d'Anville / Géographe ord.re du Roi. The plate number Pl. 25 is engraved above the upper right corner of the neatline. Two scale bars at upper left read Milles Romains évalués 755 Toises et demie and Lieues Françaises de 3000 Pas Géometriq. ou 2500 Toises.
The plate belongs to the Atlas de Géographie Ancienne, published in Paris in 1818 by Ledoux et Tenré and printed by Didot le jeune to accompany the works of Charles Rollin (1661 to 1741), author of the Histoire ancienne and the Histoire romaine. Its maps were engraved after the originals of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697 to 1782). In the signed foreword Ambroise Tardieu, géographe-graveur, states that the maps were copied with religious fidelity and that, charged with revising the proofs, he had only to correct negligences and faults of execution.
This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
