Antique Map of the Bas-Rhin, Strasbourg and Kleber, Vuillemin, circa 1860

About this sheet

The department of the Bas-Rhin, the northern half of Alsace, with Strasbourg on the Rhine and the Vosges closing the western side. Saverne, Woerth, Wissembourg and the valley of the Lauter are all named, and the sheet carries an engraved portrait of General Jean-Baptiste Kleber, the Strasbourg born soldier who commanded in Egypt after Bonaparte left and was assassinated in Cairo in 1800. The map predates the German annexation of 1871, so it shows Alsace as a French department, which is exactly why sheets of the Bas-Rhin and the Haut-Rhin from this period are collected. Alsatian material sells steadily, and this one has both the regional interest and a portrait that carries a name.

La France, Nouvel Atlas Illustre des Departements et des Colonies was drawn by Alexandre Vuillemin, ingenieur geographe, and published in Paris by Migeon at 9 rue de la Vieille Monnaie. Vuillemin built each sheet from the official surveys, the Cassini maps, the Depot de la Guerre, the Ponts et Chaussees and the charts of the Marine, and then framed the map with engraved vignettes: a portrait of a figure born in the department, a view of a monument or a ruin, a coat of arms. The result is part atlas and part popular encyclopaedia, and it remains one of the most decorative French departmental series of the nineteenth century.

The plates in this copy show France divided into eighty six departments and the county of Nice still outside the frontier, so the engraving was completed before the annexation of Savoy and Nice in 1860, although Migeon went on issuing the atlas for many years afterwards. The sheets suit a French interior particularly well, and a group of neighbouring departments hung together makes an attractive run.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few scattered spots and a small soft crease confined to the margins; the image itself is clean.

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.