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Bidding has ended on this item. Item:1827 Vandermaelen Map TEXAS - ENTIRE GULF COAST - RARE  |
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Print
Report itemPartie
du Mexique
54.5 cm x 47 cm lithograph, 72 cm x 54 cm sheet size, original hand colour, Brussels, 1827 We are pleased to offer this scarce original map of the Texas gulf coast compiled and published by the brilliant Belgian geographer Philippe Vandermaelen (1795-1869) from his monumental Atlas Universel de Geographie Physique, Politique, Statistique et Mineralogique, a work consisting of six volumes with a total of 378 map sheets drawn as globe gores on the so-called Flamsteed or modified conical projection at a unprecedented 1:1,641,836 scale - the whole of which assembles to form a globe of 7.775 meters in diameter. Originally published in installments, the completed atlas offered no less than the largest picture of the earth's surface that had ever been recorded. Despite a sale price of 600 gold francs (~ $4000 in 2009 USD) the atlas was a commercial success, selling hundreds of copies to subscribers ranging from the crowned heads of Europe to Alexander von Humboldt to the Pope. The income from the atlas as well as a significant inheritance enabled Vandermaelen to found the Brussels Geographic Institute along the Chaussée de Gand and Charleroi Canal (along with two adjacent and rather opulent homes for Vandermaelen and his brother), the library of which housed the only example of the giant globe ever constructed from the plates of the atlas. Employing a team of draughtsmen, lithographers and geographers Vandermaelen's Institute continued producing maps of all types throughout his life - nearly 5000 published maps in all. Discerning collectors have in recent years come to appreciate Vandermaelen's importance as a visionary geographer - "a worthy follower of Mercator and Ortelius" as his biographer Eugene Gilbert de Cauwer put it - as well as the beauty and historical importance of the Atlas Universel maps. As we shall see, this rare and fascinating map presents the entire coast of what is now the state of Texas, stretching from Louisiana to Laguna Madre in Mexico with some unusual cartographic confusion along the way. The text block in the Gulf of Mexico is an excerpt in French translation of Humboldt's description of the Mexican silver mining industry from his Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain.
We begin our survey of the map in Louisiana with Sabine Lake and Calcasieu Lake and what is now the McFaddin, Sabine and Rockefeller National Wildlife Refuges:
Heading west we arrive at Galveston and Ft. Matagorda. It is not known what source material Vandermaelen relied on for his depiction of the coast but it was certainly not the best as this rather confused presentation of Galveston Bay an environs indicates. What makes this particularly puzzling is that he certainly had access to Humboldt's 1809 map Carte Generale Du Royaume De La Nouvelle Espagne which presented the coast with much greater accuracy as did the 1799 Spanish chart Carta Esferica que comprehende las costas del Seno Mexicano on which it was based:  Vandermaelen
chose to produce his maps through the medium of lithography - still a
relatively new printing technology at the time. With the
assistance of his partner Henri Ode, a master lithographer,
Vandermaelen did much to advance lithography in Belgium, spurring other
mapmakers to abandon copper or steel engravings in favour of
lithography. However they did not attempt to produce the maps
through chromolithography - each map is individually hand
coloured. San Antonio and Laredo are present but the
cartographic
confusion continues with a jumble of islands along the coast and
spurious river courses, e.g. the San Antonio flowing into the Gulf
instead of joining the Guadeloupe. One wonders what Humboldt
must
have thought about this map when it arrived on his doorstep!
Note hachure work for Mexican topography. Even Vandermaelen's principal biographer Liliane Wellens-De Donder has observed about this curious map that "the few place names are poorly done, some apparently imaginary.” Of course for the modern collector its idiosyncrasies are a key part of its charm and appeal even if the normally reliable Belgian lost his way somewhat with the compilation of the map:
Portrait of Vandermaelen in his later years:
Below we see a circa 1840 lithograph presenting a view of his Geographic Institute, made possible by the success of the Atlas Universel. The lithographic workshop was in the basement, the right wing of the ground floor was taken up by draughtsmen and colourists and the left wing housed Vandermaelen's office and a lecture hall. The two upper floors housed the library with the enormous globe in the centre of an open gallery where an "Ethnographic Museum" was displayed along with collections of coins, botanical specimens, minerals etc.
Note curvature at top and bottom and slight taper on both sides of actual map area reminding us that the map is, in fact, a globe gore!
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