Nicholas de Fer (1646 - October 25, 1720) was a French cartographer and publisher, the son of cartographer Antoine de Fer. He apprenticed with the Paris engraver Louis Spirinx, producing his first map, of the Canal du Midi, at 23. When his father died in June of 1673 he took over the family engraving business and established himself on Quai de L'Horloge, Paris, as an engraver, cartographer, and map publisher. De Fer was a prolific cartographer with over 600 maps and atlases to his credit. De Fer's work, though replete with geographical errors, earned a large following because of its considerable decorative appeal. In the late 17th century, De Fer's fame culminated in his appointment as Geographe de le Dauphin, a position that offered him unprecedented access to the most up to date cartographic information. This was a partner position to another simultaneously held by the more scientific geographer Guillaume De L'Isle, Premier Geograph de Roi. Despite very different cartographic approaches, De L'Isle and De Fer seem to have stepped carefully around one another and were rarely publicly at odds. Upon his death of old age in 1720, Nicolas was succeeded by two of his sons-in-law, who also happened to be brothers, Guillaume Danet (who had married his daughter Marguerite-Geneviève De Fer), and Jacques-François Bénard (Besnard) Danet (husband of Marie-Anne De Fer), and their heirs, who continued to publish under the De Fer imprint until about 1760. It is of note that part of the De Fer legacy also passed to the engraver Remi Rircher, who married De Fer's third daughter, but Richer had little interest in the business and sold his share to the Danet brothers in 1721. More by this mapmaker...

Guillaume Danet (1670 – 1732) was a Paris based French bookseller and map publisher active in the late 17th and early 18th century. Danet married Marguerite-Geneviève De Fer becoming the son-in-law of the cartographer and map publisher Nicolas De Fer (1626 – 1720). Along with his brothers and brothers-in-law, Jacques-François Bénard (Besnard) Danet (husband of Marie-Anne De Fer and engraver to the King of Spain) and Remi Richer (an engraver who sold portion of the De Fer business to his brothers in 1721), Guillaume Danet inherited a portion Nicolas De Fer's publishing business in 1720. Both Danet and Bénard used the De Fer name and signage concurrently. Danet maintained a book and map shop on the Pont Notre-Dame. After Danet's own death in 1732, the business was continued by his widow, Marguerite-Geneviève, until about 1746. Marguerite-Geneviève died in 1746 after which many of the De Fer / Danet plates were acquired by Louis Charles Desnos. Learn More...