Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville; 1697 - 1782.
In the tradition of Sanson and de L'Isle French school of
exact cartography, d'Anville brought exacting scholarship
and accuracy to his maps.
Never leaving Paris, he managed to amass a vast collection
of geographical/historical/ statistical/political materials,
in particular from the observations of Jesuit missionaries.
He is said to have produced his first map at age 15, but he
gained notoriety only in 1735 for his contribution to du Halde's
"Description. de la Chine.".
He quickly followed with the 1737 "Nouvel atlas de la chine",
and then the 1740 "Atlas general".
Also of note: the 1769 "Géographie Ancienne et Abrégée". Some
of his works were translated and published in London, in particular
by Sayer, Laurie and Whittle.
Carte la plus generale et qui comprend la Chine, la Tartarie
chinoise et le Thibet.
This large map (27 1/16" X 18 ½") was originally designed
for the 1735 du Halde "Description de la Chine.".
But this book format (in quarto) was too small and would have
led to numerous folds.
Hence, d'Anville decided to publish in 1737 a in folio "Nouvel
Atlas de la Chine, de la Tartarie chinoise et du Thibet".
In the prefacing " avertissement " he discloses very openly
that this work is not much else that a remake of du Halde's
Description, with many of the original text and maps being
reused herein.
This item seems to have been printed in 1737.
The ornate cartouche shows emperor Kang Hsi presiding over
the survey he had ordered the Jesuits to execute in his name
between 1708 and 1716. Two fathers, with an armed mounted
escort, are investigating a farmer settlement, his lodging
and cattle.
The scale cartouche is adorned by two wolf hunters.
In a prescient manner d'Anville, around China proper, shows
associated territories; on the west: Thibet and Kashgar, on
the north: Mongous, and on the northeast: Mantcheoux. All
these areas are now part of modern China, respectively as;
Tibet, Xinjiang (whose second largest city is Khashgar), Inner
Mongolia, and Manchuria (Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning
provinces).
Notice the wealth of information the Jesuits had been able
to assemble with respect to geographic accuracy and urbanization.
No text on verso.
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