1758 Bellin Map of Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante – Caribbean Islands
€ 440
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1758
Sheet size
25.1 × 35.8 cm (9.9 × 14.1 in)
Condition
Excellent
Reference
BG-13618-19
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
Excellent condition. Strong and clean impression on fine laid paper with wide margins. Original hand coloring in outline and wash, highlighting coastlines and cartouches. Minor age toning at edges; verso blank.
About this sheet
Guadeloupe and its dependencies, an original copper engraving by Jacques Nicolas Bellin, drawn for the Histoire Générale des Voyages and dated 1758. The sheet has original hand color in outline and wash, with green and yellow tints on the land and a yellow band along the neat line. It is titled "Carte de l'Isle de la Guadeloupe, Pour servir à l'Histoire Générale des Voyages."
The map shows the two wings of the island, Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, divided by the narrow channel at the top, with hachured mountains, rivers, parishes, bays and anchorages lettered around the coast. Marie-Galante lies at the lower right, and the small group of Les Saintes sits below Basse-Terre. A compass rose with radiating rhumb lines fills the open sea in the center. A decorative cartouche with the title stands at the upper right, and a scale of common leagues of France is set in a cartouche at the upper left. Volume and plate references are printed in the lower margin.
Bellin (1703 to 1772) was Hydrographer to the French navy, and his charts for Prévost's travel collection were among the most widely used maps of the colonies in the mid-eighteenth century.
