1840 Perrot Textbook on Mapmaking and Map Drafting

This is a fascinating 1840 instruction book in French and Italian describing the methods and techniques of topographical mapmaking and draftsmanship. Such works were used in military academies and civil engineering schools, laying the groundwork for the standardization of draftsmanship and topographic conventions in Europe - a major evolution over the ad hoc methodologies that dominated 18th-century mapmaking,

A Closer Look

The work features twenty-four pages of instructional text with twelve finely engraved and supplementary pages of diagrams - many with rich hand color. These illustrate standardized conventions for representing various terrains, structures, elements of the city plan, nautical chart annotations, and more.

Publication History and Census

This work was compiled by Aristide Michel Perrot, likely around 1819, and published in 1840 in Florence, Italy, by Paolo Fumagalli. It was first published in France as early as 1819, with subsequent issues following into the mid-19th century. The work is well represented in European institutions but uncommon in the United States.