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1782 De L'Isle Map of the Southern Hemisphere (Australia, South Pole)
SouthernHemisphere-delisle-1782$600.00
Title
L'Hemisphere Meridional pour voir plus distinctement Les Terres Australes.
1782 (dated) 19 x 19 in (48.26 x 48.26 cm) 1 : 46000000
1782 (dated) 19 x 19 in (48.26 x 48.26 cm) 1 : 46000000
Description
This is a stunning map of the Southern Hemisphere drawn by Guillaume de L'Isle and updated in 1782 by Jean-Claude Dezauche. Extends from the South Pole northwards in all directions as far as the Equator, encompassing in the process most of South America, southern Africa, Australia, and parts of the East Indies including Borneo, New Guinea, Java and Sumatra. Details the routes taken by numerous important navigators including Magellan, Vespucci, Mendana, Dampier, L'Aigle, S. Louis, Halley, Quiros, Maire, Tasman, Davis and of course Captain Cook.
This map went through many incarnations, the present example being perhaps the only edition to illustrate all three of Captain Cook's seminal voyages. As such the map offers numerous updates throughout including a partially complete mapping of Australia (though Van Demien's Land or Tasmania remains attached to the Australian Mainland), numerous updates to the shoreline of New Zealand, and some of the southernmost navigations then recorded.
Most of the earlier updates, that is those predating this, the Cook edition, focus on the explorations of Lozier de Bouvet. An account of Bouvet's explorations appears on both sides of the map proper - in French on the left and in Dutch on the right. Bouvet explored the Antarctic seas in the late 1730s. In January of 1739 Bouvet discovered an iceberg ridden sea and sighted an outcropping of land he called Cap de la Circoncision. Based upon Bouvet's calculations this would have been the southernmost point of land ever sighted.
At the time, and for roughly 100 years previous, geographers had speculated on the existence of a Southern Continent. The idea of such a continent was based on a theory of balance. Geographers theorized that the weight of Asia had to be counter balanced by a similarly massive continent in the extreme South. The great proponent of this theory in the 18th century was Geographer to the King and Academie des Sciences member Philippe Buache de la Neuville.
Bauche was the preeminent geographical theorist of his day and used Lozier's discoveries to promote his own ideas of a Southern Continent. Thus, returning to our map, we see evidence of Bauchian Antarctic theory in the inclusion of Cap de la Circoncision on this map just south of the Cape of Good Hope. Bauche would later theorize that the Cap was actually attached to a great continent further south and that it was the outlet for a large Antarctic Sea.
Following Lozier de Bouvet, subsequent explorers had a great deal of difficulty finding Cap de la Circoncision. Our maps shows Captain Cook's own search for the Cap extensively on both his first and second voyages. One of Cook's associates, Captain Furneaux also searched the area with little success. The issue seems to have been a miscalculation by Bouvet regarding Longitude (a typical problem at the time) that placed the island about 23 degrees too far east. The land was finally rediscovered by Captain James Lindsay in 1808 who realized that it was in fact an island and not attached to a greater southern landmass. It was sighted again by the American whaling Captain Benjamin Morrell in 1822 who renamed it Bouvet's Island in honor of its original discoverer.
On to other parts of the map. De L'Isle, based on only the sketchiest knowledge of the region obtained from the voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman around Australia, maps Australia, or in this case Terres Australes, as attached to both Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) and New Guinea. Despite this, western, eastern, and northern parts of Australia are drawn with relative accuracy while the southern portions are postulated with a dotted line.
South America, roughly three quarters of which appears here, is well mapped along its shores though speculatively in the interior. Our map shows the Laguna de los Xarayes and the lands of the Xarayes, a corruption of 'Xaraies' meaning 'Masters of the River.' The Xaraies were an indigenous people occupying what are today parts of Brazil's Matte Grosso and the Pantanal. When Spanish and Portuguese explorers first navigated up the Paraguay River, as always in search of El Dorado, they encountered the vast Pantanal flood plain at the height of its annual inundation. Understandably misinterpreting the flood plain as a gigantic inland sea, they named it after the local inhabitants, the Xaraies. The Laguna de los Xarayes almost immediately began to appear on early maps of the region and, at the same time, almost immediately took on a legendary aspect as the gateway to El Dorado.
Africa, as was common in the 18th century is full of speculative details regarding the mountains, rivers systems, and indigenous peoples of the interior. The cannibalistic Jagas, identified hear as 'Antropophages' appear near what is almost certainly a very embryonic form of Lake Malawi. On Madagascar I. de St. Marie, the probable location of the legendary pirate kingdom of Libertatia is identified.
Published by Jean-Claude Dezauche in this c. 1782 reissue of Guillaume de L'Isle's Atlas Nouveau...
This map went through many incarnations, the present example being perhaps the only edition to illustrate all three of Captain Cook's seminal voyages. As such the map offers numerous updates throughout including a partially complete mapping of Australia (though Van Demien's Land or Tasmania remains attached to the Australian Mainland), numerous updates to the shoreline of New Zealand, and some of the southernmost navigations then recorded.
Most of the earlier updates, that is those predating this, the Cook edition, focus on the explorations of Lozier de Bouvet. An account of Bouvet's explorations appears on both sides of the map proper - in French on the left and in Dutch on the right. Bouvet explored the Antarctic seas in the late 1730s. In January of 1739 Bouvet discovered an iceberg ridden sea and sighted an outcropping of land he called Cap de la Circoncision. Based upon Bouvet's calculations this would have been the southernmost point of land ever sighted.
At the time, and for roughly 100 years previous, geographers had speculated on the existence of a Southern Continent. The idea of such a continent was based on a theory of balance. Geographers theorized that the weight of Asia had to be counter balanced by a similarly massive continent in the extreme South. The great proponent of this theory in the 18th century was Geographer to the King and Academie des Sciences member Philippe Buache de la Neuville.
Bauche was the preeminent geographical theorist of his day and used Lozier's discoveries to promote his own ideas of a Southern Continent. Thus, returning to our map, we see evidence of Bauchian Antarctic theory in the inclusion of Cap de la Circoncision on this map just south of the Cape of Good Hope. Bauche would later theorize that the Cap was actually attached to a great continent further south and that it was the outlet for a large Antarctic Sea.
Following Lozier de Bouvet, subsequent explorers had a great deal of difficulty finding Cap de la Circoncision. Our maps shows Captain Cook's own search for the Cap extensively on both his first and second voyages. One of Cook's associates, Captain Furneaux also searched the area with little success. The issue seems to have been a miscalculation by Bouvet regarding Longitude (a typical problem at the time) that placed the island about 23 degrees too far east. The land was finally rediscovered by Captain James Lindsay in 1808 who realized that it was in fact an island and not attached to a greater southern landmass. It was sighted again by the American whaling Captain Benjamin Morrell in 1822 who renamed it Bouvet's Island in honor of its original discoverer.
On to other parts of the map. De L'Isle, based on only the sketchiest knowledge of the region obtained from the voyages of Abel Janszoon Tasman around Australia, maps Australia, or in this case Terres Australes, as attached to both Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) and New Guinea. Despite this, western, eastern, and northern parts of Australia are drawn with relative accuracy while the southern portions are postulated with a dotted line.
South America, roughly three quarters of which appears here, is well mapped along its shores though speculatively in the interior. Our map shows the Laguna de los Xarayes and the lands of the Xarayes, a corruption of 'Xaraies' meaning 'Masters of the River.' The Xaraies were an indigenous people occupying what are today parts of Brazil's Matte Grosso and the Pantanal. When Spanish and Portuguese explorers first navigated up the Paraguay River, as always in search of El Dorado, they encountered the vast Pantanal flood plain at the height of its annual inundation. Understandably misinterpreting the flood plain as a gigantic inland sea, they named it after the local inhabitants, the Xaraies. The Laguna de los Xarayes almost immediately began to appear on early maps of the region and, at the same time, almost immediately took on a legendary aspect as the gateway to El Dorado.
Africa, as was common in the 18th century is full of speculative details regarding the mountains, rivers systems, and indigenous peoples of the interior. The cannibalistic Jagas, identified hear as 'Antropophages' appear near what is almost certainly a very embryonic form of Lake Malawi. On Madagascar I. de St. Marie, the probable location of the legendary pirate kingdom of Libertatia is identified.
Published by Jean-Claude Dezauche in this c. 1782 reissue of Guillaume de L'Isle's Atlas Nouveau...
CartographerS
The De L'Isle family (fl. c. 1700 - c. 1760) (also written Delisle) were, in composite, a mapmaking tour de force who redefined early 18th century European cartography. Claude De L'Isle (1644 -1720), the family patriarch, was Paris based a historian and geographer under Nicholas Sanson. De L'Isle and his sons were proponents of the school of "positive geography" and were definitive figures, defining the heights of the Golden Age of French Cartography. Of his twelve sons, four, Guillaume (1675 - 1726), Simon Claude (1675 - 1726), Joseph Nicholas (1688 - 1768) and Louis (1720 - 1745), made a significant contributions to cartography. Without a doubt Guillaume was the most remarkable member of the family. It is said that Guillaume's skill as a cartographer was so prodigious that he drew his first map at just nine years of age. He was tutored by J. D. Cassini in astronomy, science, mathematics and cartography. By applying these diverse disciplines to the vast stores of information provided by 18th century navigators, Guillaume created the technique that came to be known as "scientific cartography", essentially an extension of Sanson's "positive geography". This revolutionary approach transformed the field of cartography and created a more accurate picture of the world. Among Guillaume's many firsts are the first naming of Texas, the first correct map of the Mississippi, the final rejection of the insular California fallacy, and the first identification of the correct longitudes of America. Stylistically De L'Isle also initiated important changes to the medium, eschewing the flamboyant Dutch style of the previous century in favor of a highly detailed yet still decorative approach that yielded map both beautiful and informative. Guillaume was elected to the French Academie Royale des Sciences at 27. Later, in 1718, he was also appointed "Premier Geographe du Roi", an office created especially for him. De L'Isle personally financed the publication of most of his maps, hoping to make heavy royalties on their sales. Unfortunately he met an untimely death in 1728, leaving considerable debt and an impoverished child and widow. De L'Isle's publishing firm was taken over by his assistant, Phillipe Buache who became, posthumously, his son in law. The other De L'Isle brothers, Joseph Nicholas and Louis De L'Isle, were employed in the Service of Peter the Great of Russia as astronomers and surveyors. They are responsible for cataloguing and compiling the data obtained from Russian expeditions in the Pacific and along the northwest coast of America, including the seminal explorations of Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov. The De L'Isles, like their rivals the Vaugondys , must be considered speculative geographers. Speculative geography was a genre of mapmaking that evolved in Europe, particularly Paris, in the middle to late 18th century. Cartographers in this genre would fill in unknown areas on their maps with speculations based upon their vast knowledge of cartography, personal geographical theories, and often dubious primary source material gathered by explorers and navigators. This approach, which attempted to use the known to validate the unknown, naturally engendered many rivalries. The era of speculatively cartography effectively ended with the late 18th century explorations of Captain Cook, Jean Francois de Galaup de La Perouse, and George Vancouver. More by this mapmaker...
Phillipe Buache (February 7, 1700 - January 24, 1773) was a late 18th century French cartographer and map publisher. Buache began his cartographic career as the workshop assistant and apprentice to the important and prolific cartographer Guillaume de L'Isle. Upon De L'Isle's untimely death, Buache took over the publishing firm cementing the relationship by marrying De L'Isle's daughter. Over the years, Bauche republished many of De L'Isle's maps and charts. Buache was eventually appointed Premier Geographe du Roi, a position created-for and previously held by Guillaume de L'Isle. Buache is most respected for his introduction of hachuring as a method from displaying underwater elevation on a two dimensional map surface. Buache compiled maps based upon geographic knowledge, scholarly research, the journals of contemporary explorers and missionaries, and direct astronomical observation. Nevertheless, even in 18th century Paris geographical knowledge was severely limited - especially regarding those unexplored portions of the world, including the poles, the Pacific northwest of America, and the interior of Africa and South America. In these areas the Buache, like his primary rival Robert de Vaugondy, must be considered a speculative geographer or 'positive geographer'. Speculative geography was a genre of mapmaking that evolved in Europe, particularly Paris, in the middle to late 18th century. Cartographers in this genre would fill in unknown areas on their maps with speculations based upon their vast knowledge of cartography, personal geographical theories, and often dubious primary source material gathered by explorers and navigators. This approach, which attempted to use the known to validate the unknown, naturally engendered many rivalries. Buache's feuds with other cartographers, most specifically Didier Robert De Vaugondy, resulted in numerous conflicting papers being presented before the Academie des Sciences, of which both were members. The era of speculatively cartography effectively ended with the late 18th century explorations of Captain Cook, Jean Francois de Galaup de La Perouse, and George Vancouver. Buache was succeeded by his nephew Jean-Nicholas Buache de Neuville. Learn More...
Jean-Claude Dezauche (1745 - 1824) was a French map publisher active in Paris during the first half of the 19th century. He established his own engraving firm around 1770 after having engraved music since 1762. Dezauche bought the archives of Phillipe Buache and Guillaume de L'Isle from Jean Nicholas Buache, Buache's heir, in 1780. Dezauche soon obtained a monopoly on selling the charts produced by the Dépôt de la Marine. Jean-Claude Dezuache passed his business to his son, Jean André Dezauche, upon his death, who took over selling the Dépôt de la Marine charts. Learn More...
Source
Delisle, G., and Buache, P., Atlas Geographique et Universel, (Dezauche, Paris), 1782.
Condition
very good. Original centerfold. Pressmark visible. Blank on verso. Slight damp staining upper margin.
References
Rumsey 4764.005. Newberry Library, Ayer 135 .L695 1741 v. 1, pl. [3]. Phillips (Atlases), 595 no.3, 596 no.3. Tooley, R. V., Mapping of Australia and Antarctica, 42.