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1849 Meyer Map of France
Frankreich-meyer-1849$90.00
Title
Frankreich.
1849 (dated) 8.5 x 11 in (21.59 x 27.94 cm) 1 : 5000000
1849 (dated) 8.5 x 11 in (21.59 x 27.94 cm) 1 : 5000000
Description
This is a fine 1849 map of France by Joseph Meyer. It covers the Kingdom of France showing its various provinces. It covers from the Flanders in the north to Roussillon in the south and from Brittany in the west to Alsace in the east. It covers from the Flanders in the north to Roussillon in the south and from Brittany in the west to Alsace in the east. Also includes Corsica. An inset on the bottom left quadrant details Paris and its vicinity.
France was organized into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the National Constituent Assembly reorganized the Provinces into Departments. The change was an attempt to eradicate local loyalties based on feudal ownership of land and focus all loyalty on the central government in Paris. There were roughly 40 provinces in France before they were abolished. Nonetheless, the province system was so engrained that most cartographers felt obliged to include two maps of France in their atlases, one showing the current department system, and another defining the defunct provinces.
This map lists the 86 French departments along the right border. It covers France just prior to the December 2, 1851 coup d'etat that brought about the Second Empire. The Second Republic transformed into the Second Empire, established by a referendum on November 7, 1852. President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, elected by the heavily Bonapartist French people, officially became Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, from the symbolic and historic date of December 2, 1852.
This map was issued as plate no. 49 in Meyer's Zeitung Atlas. Although all the maps in this atlas are not individually dated, the title page and maps were often updated while the imprint with the date was not, causing confusion to the exact date for some of the maps. Moreover some maps in the atlas were taped in at a later date as an update to the atlas. We have dated the maps in this collection to the best of our ability.
France was organized into provinces until March 4, 1790, when the National Constituent Assembly reorganized the Provinces into Departments. The change was an attempt to eradicate local loyalties based on feudal ownership of land and focus all loyalty on the central government in Paris. There were roughly 40 provinces in France before they were abolished. Nonetheless, the province system was so engrained that most cartographers felt obliged to include two maps of France in their atlases, one showing the current department system, and another defining the defunct provinces.
This map lists the 86 French departments along the right border. It covers France just prior to the December 2, 1851 coup d'etat that brought about the Second Empire. The Second Republic transformed into the Second Empire, established by a referendum on November 7, 1852. President Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, elected by the heavily Bonapartist French people, officially became Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, from the symbolic and historic date of December 2, 1852.
This map was issued as plate no. 49 in Meyer's Zeitung Atlas. Although all the maps in this atlas are not individually dated, the title page and maps were often updated while the imprint with the date was not, causing confusion to the exact date for some of the maps. Moreover some maps in the atlas were taped in at a later date as an update to the atlas. We have dated the maps in this collection to the best of our ability.
Cartographer
Joseph Meyer (May 9, 1796 - June 27, 1856) was a German industrialist, merchant, and publisher, active in Germany in the early to mid 19th century. He is best known for publishing the encyclopedia Meyers Conversation-Lexicon. Born in Gotha, Germany, Meyer was educated as a merchant in Frankfurt am Main. He moved to London in 1816, but returned to Germany in 1820 after his stock speculations and business adventures fell through. Once back in Germany, he began by investing in the textile trade (1820 - 24). Meyer began creating business plans concerning how to start railways soon after the first steam-hauled railway began operation in December 1835. He founded the Deutsche Eisenbahnschienen-Compangie auf Actien (German Railway Rail joint stock company) in 1845. Meyer also found great success as a publisher, utilizing the system of serial subscriptions to publications, a new idea for the time. He founded a company, Bibliographisches Institut in Gotha in 1825, which published several versions of the Bible, works of classical literature, atlases, the world in pictures on steel engravings, and an encyclopedia. He moved the Institut from Gotha to Hildburghausen in 1828. He published several atlases, including Meyer's Groẞer Hand-Atlas (1843 - 1860). In 1848, he supported the Springtime of the Peoples Revolutions that took place throughout Germany and much of Europe. When the revolutions failed in 1849, Meyer was briefly imprisoned for his support of revolutionary activities. The revolutions also began to take a toll on Meyer's business interests, and when he died, in 1856, the Bibliographisches Institut was struggling financially. His son, Herrmann Julius Meyer, took over the firm, spearheading a rapid recovery. This, and other businesses prospered under Herrmann Julius (April 4, 1826 - March 12, 1909) and when he died in 1909, he led the richest family in Saxony, with more total wealth than the King of Saxony More by this mapmaker...
Source
Meyer, J., Meyer's Zeitung Atlas, 1852.
Meyer's Zeitung Atlas, formally titled Neuster Zeitungs-Atlas Fuer Alte und Neue Erdkunde was a popular German hand-atlas published in Heidelberg by Joseph Meyer between, roughly, 1848 and 1859. The atlas is well engraved in the German style with exceptionally dense detail and minimal decoration. Meyer's Atlas, and its constituent maps, are typically very difficult to date as later editions often contain earlier maps and earlier editions later paste-in updates. That said, the atlas' frequent updates and publication run during a turbulent decade provide a noteworthy cartographic record of the period.
Condition
Very good. Minor toning and spotting at places.