French Guiana & Suriname – Rigobert Bonne’s Colonial Map of the Guianas, c.1780

€ 330

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1780
Sheet size: 41 × 26 cm (16.1 × 10.2 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-14105-33

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

Good condition. Light age toning throughout with small scattered spots and minor handling marks consistent with age. Central fold visible as issued. Plate mark present.

About this sheet

French Guiana and the neighboring Dutch colony, an original copper engraving by Rigobert Bonne, circa 1780, titled "La Guyane Françoise, avec partie de la Guyane Hollandoise, suivant les Opérations et les Cartes récentes des Ingénieurs-Géographes François." The cartouche credits M. Bonne, Ingénieur-Hydrographe de la Marine, and the sheet is printed in black without color, with a numbered plate mark in the upper right corner.

The map shows the Atlantic coast of the Guianas as a long indented shoreline, labeled "Mer du Nord ou Océan Occidental," with rivers running inland from many small coastal settlements and forts. The island of Cayenne appears at the lower right near the boundary with "Guyane Portugaise," and the western edge reaches into Dutch Guiana. The interior is left largely blank and marked "Terrein montagneux peu connu" (mountainous land little known), a frank admission of how little of the hinterland French geographers had surveyed. Scale bars for French leagues and marine leagues appear below the title, with a latitude and longitude grid on the border.

Bonne succeeded Jacques-Nicolas Bellin as hydrographer at the Dépôt de la Marine in Paris, and this sheet draws on the recent operations of French engineer-geographers, as its title states.