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Bidding has ended on this item. Item:1827 Vandermaelen Map TEXAS North & Central + Oklahoma  |
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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 northern and central Texas and what is now southwest Oklahoma 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 eventually 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. The map is notable as the first separately printed map of this region of Texas and provides a fascinating snapshot of the knowledge (or lack thereof) of the area during the administration of John Quincy Adams. An exceptionally well preserved example, this unusual map will make an elegant presentation if matted and framed.
We begin our survey of the map along the Red River. Notations along the river show a Pawnee Village abandoned in 1820, the furthest point of Thomas Freeman's 1806 Red River Expedition, and a location where Acadians coming from Santa Fe abandoned their horses to continue downriver in canoes. Note detailed hachure work for Ouachita Mountains:  To the west we find the Santa Fe Trail marked as it passes through the panhandle, which is described as a great desert. Major Stephen Harriman Long's return trip to Ft. Smith in Arkansas after his 1820 Platte River expedition is numerically marked day by day. Also shown is where French explorer André Fabry de la Bruyère overwintered in 1741-1742. Vandermaelen places the population of the Arkansas Territory as 14273 souls:
Moving
south we find what is now the Dallas-Ft. Worth area in a "fertile
savanna" while an Indian trail leads from Nacogodoches to "Presido"
near what is now Palestine, Texas and would become Fort
Houston during the Republic of Texas era. The trail
continues on to a Spanish settlement on the Brazos south of the present
location of Waco.
Further west we find the San Saba Mountains and a spurious source for the Guadalupe River at "Lac de las Yuntas":
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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Shipping and handling Item location: Indianapolis, IN, United States Shipping to: Worldwide
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