Rigobert Bonne; 1729-1793.
Bonne, a trained mathematician, was appointed Hydrographer
to the King.
He took over the responsibility of the French hydrographic
institute ("Dépôt de la Marine") after the death of Bellin
in 1772.
He followed in the steps of the french school of cartographic
detail and geographic accuracy. As such he produced, often
in collaboration with other mapmakers, a large number of sea
charts.
His name is generally associated with a type of equal area
projection he often used after 1757.
Of note, his 1776 "Atlas Moderne". But he is most well known
for the wealth of maps he prepared for Guillaume Raynal's
"Atlas de toutes les parties connues du globe terrestre" (1780),
and for Nicolas Desmaret*'s "Atlas Encyclopédique" (1787,
re-issued in 1827).
* Desmaret: of engineering fame for the first recorded design
of a tunnel between France and England in 1751.
L'Isle de Cuba.
This map (12 7/16" X 8 3/16") was drawn for the 1780 "Atlas
de toutes les parties connues du globe terrestre", it was
recycled in Desmaret's 1787 "Atlas Encyclopedique".
Its striking character stems from the finely detailed coastlines
(eventhough not very accurate, i.e. the delineation of the
bay of Batabano), but also for the surrounding archipelagoes
of keys and islets. Mountain ranges are still quite poorly
represented and do not help understand the pattern of rivers.
As a throwback to earlier mapping conventions, Bonne depicts
the principal urban centers and missions with a church icon.
Note on top of the map, the longitude is given with respect
to Ferro Island (westernmost Canary) as it was then commonly
accepted (even though it was usually given east, not west
as is the case here). While at the bottom, the longitude is
shown west of the Paris meridian.
No text on verso.
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