South America – Original Antique Enlightenment Map by Rigobert Bonne, c.1780
€ 440
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-14105-30
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 antique condition. Light age toning and minor handling wear consistent with 18th-century copperplate engraving. Original centerfold as issued. Clean impression with strong legibility; margins ample for framing.
About this sheet
The whole of South America in a copper engraving by Rigobert Bonne, circa 1780, titled "Amérique Méridionale" and credited "Par M. Bonne, Ingénieur Hydrographe de la Marine." The sheet is printed in black without color, with a graticule of latitude and longitude and the meridian of Paris lettered along the foot.
The continent is shown from the Caribbean coast down to Tierra del Fuego, with the "Mer du Nord" at the top, the "Océan Méridional" on the Atlantic side and the "Mer du Sud" along the Pacific. Brazil ("Brésil") fills the broad eastern bulge, and the Amazon is traced across the interior from the Andes to its mouth, with its "Ligne Equinoxiale" crossing near the equator. The Río de la Plata opens at the south, Chile and Peru line the Pacific coast, and the Tropic of Capricorn is marked at the left. Provinces, settlements and rivers are lettered throughout. Scale bars at the lower right give Spanish, Portuguese, Castilian and common French leagues.
Bonne was hydrographer to the French navy at the Dépôt de la Marine in Paris, succeeding Jacques-Nicolas Bellin. The sheet is part of the set of continental and regional maps he issued around 1780, and it records the Spanish and Portuguese division of the continent in the years before independence.
