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La Mer Mediterranée, 1726

Date

• 1726

Creator

• Michelot, Henri, hydrographer
• Coelemans, Jacques, 1654?-1735, engraver
• Randon, Claude, approximately 1674-1704, engraver

Language

• French

Collection

• Nouvelle Carte Generalle de la Mer Mediterranée

Description

• Map numbered 2/16: la Mer Mediterranée. Created in 1726, the scale is approximately 1:2,535,000. Mediterranean Sea charts including the central Mediterranean, Italy, the Adriatic Sea, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, and North Africa, divided into three parts (of which the other two follow in supplemental maps, numbered. This map contains three tables of place names and two sets of distance scales, one that bears a strong resemblance in the area covered to the Michelot and Therin charts from 1690. This is the western sheet. A box at the bottom contains the metric scales (repeated in the central sheet, bottom right, and the eastern one, top right). Graduated scale on the left and right sides of the map specify region lies within 45°8' to 32°48' North. Legend has 4 scale bars (Lieües Francoise et Angloise, Lieues d'Hollande, Lieües d'Espagne, Milles) stating the scale for English or French leagues are equal to 20 for one degree (85 leagues equal to 15.5cm), the Holland league is equal to 15 for one degree (65 leagues equal to 15.5cm), the Spanish league is equal to 17.5 for one degree (72.5 leagues equal to 15.5cm), and the scale of miles is equal to 75 for one degree for use of this map in the Mediterranean (310 miles equal to 15.5cm). The bottom right corner of the map holds inset with names, islands, and ports contained on this map.
• Map is from a bound collection of charts of the Mediterranean Sea, without a common title. The title is taken from the second map bound in atlas and represents the Mediterranean with the coasts of Spain, Morocco, Algeria, France, Italy, Greece. Also shows the Mediterranean islands including three large maps of Corsica, Sardinia and Malta. The atlas opens with the New Ocean Coasts Map showing the coasts of Portugal, Morocco and the Canaries, with the Strait of Gibraltar. Library copy lacks maps number 4, 9, and 13. Call Number: G5672.M4P5 1726 .H4
• The maps are adorned with very large decorative title cartouches with the arms of the dedicatee Jean-Philippe d'Orléans (1702-1748), provided with the office of General of the Galleys in 1716 and that of Grand Prior of France of the Order of Malta in 1719. The cards, all addressed to Laurent Bremond in Marseille, are engraved, mostly by Peter Starckman between 1715 and 1726. Only the last card has no dedicatee. Some cards are also adorned with scale cartouches. All are doubles except that of Catalogne, Roussillon (1718) which is quadruple. Library copy has an inscription on the inside front cover: "This volume of maps and charts of the Mediterranean & Mer Seas is the donation of M.A. Giraud, Esq. to the Lexington Athenaeum. 28th March 1820." The charts were produced by Bremond and Michelot under the direction of the 'Dépôt Général des Cartes et Plans, Journaux et Mémoires concernant la Navigation'.