Antique World Map of the French Colonies in Four Continents, circa 1860

About this sheet

A planisphere of the world showing the French colonies in the four quarters of the globe, the summary sheet of the colonial section of the atlas. The whole world is laid out on one projection with the French possessions picked out, and the geography around them is worth as much as the subject: Russian America is still Russian, Australia is lettered New Holland, the interior of Africa is largely blank with the Hottentots named in the south, and Canada, Labrador, Iceland, Lapland and Siberia run across the top. A world map is always the most saleable sheet in an atlas, and a coloured planisphere of this size frames handsomely. This one has the added interest of showing the French empire at its pre-Third Republic extent, before the expansion of the 1880s.

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 and a few small spots in the margins; the image itself is clean and strong.

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.