C1753

Carte Reduite Des Terres Australes.

Mapmaker:

$A 2,350

Rare, seminal c.18th map of Australia, and one of only a handful of maps published between 1663 to 1800 solely devoted to the Australian continent. Nicholas Bellin was the most eminent French cartographer of his day. The map records the … Read Full Description

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S/N: HGDV-AM-1108–185327

(C091)

Categories: Australia (General), MAPS & GLOBES, AUSTRALIA

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Details

Full Title:

Carte Reduite Des Terres Australes.

Date:

C1753

Mapmaker:

Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703 - 1772)

Condition:

In good condition, with folds as issued. A very good impression with wide margins.

Technique:

Copper engraving, uncoloured as issued.

Image Size:

277mm

x 202mm

Paper Size:

393mm

x 256mm

Genuine antique
dated:

1753

Description:

Rare, seminal c.18th map of Australia, and one of only a handful of maps published between 1663 to 1800 solely devoted to the Australian continent.

Nicholas Bellin was the most eminent French cartographer of his day. The map records the Dutch discoveries made of the Australian coastline which culminated in those of Tasman’s on his first and second voyages 1642-4. The earlier Dutch discoveries, include those on the west coast of Cape York Peninsula made by; Cartensz 1623, Hartog 1616, Houtman 1619, the van Leeuwin 1622, de Wit 1628, Nuyts 1627 and Vlamingh 1697. The map also records William Dampier’s visit to Shark Bay 1699. As the Dutch were unsuccessful in establishing a trading relationship with the Australian aborigines and with their good knowledge of the western coastline which was their main hazard for their sea route to Batavia, they had no need for further exploration or charting of the continent. Their voyages after Tasman’s second voyage were purely commercial trading voyages of spices from the East Indies using the Brouwer route. Tasman’s map of the Australian continent was to remain unchanged for nearly two hundred years until the discovery of the east coast by James Cook 1769-70 made on his first voyage of discovery.

Bellin completes Australia’s east coast with an imaginary line connecting the southern portions of Van Diemen’s Land discovered by Abel Tasman, to the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. He includes a note on the east coast; Je Suppose que de Diemen peut Venir se joundre avec la Terre de S. Espirit mais sans preuves, ( I assume that de Diemen can come to join with the Land of S. Spirit but without proof).

The chronology of the earliest printed maps solely devoted to the Australian prior to 1800 are:

1663 Thévenot,  Hollandia Nova Detecta. The absolute first printed map solely dedicated to Australia. It bound together Abel Tasman’s 1642 and 1644 charting voyages, formalised the name Hollandia Nova, and left the entire eastern half of the continent completely blank.
1712 Moll,   New Guinea, New Britain, and New Holland, etc. The first British-produced map solely focused on the Australian continent. Published within his Atlas Geographus, this small but important charts the early Dutch footprints on the western and northern coast.
1744 Bowen, A Complete Map of the Southern Continen. This map is the second English map dedicated to Australia published in John Harris’s, Navigantium, Bowen adapted Thévenot’s geometry and added a long note promoting British settlement.
1753 Bellin, Carte Reduite des Terres Australes. The first French map to speculatively add an east coast. From Abbé Prévost’s, Histoire Générale des Voyages, Bellin created a theoretical eastern coast connecting Van Diemen’s Land to New Guinea.
1756 Vaugondy, Carte Réduite de l’Australasie. Pivotal map that coined and bounded the region to the name Australasie. Published in Charles de Brosses’, Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes. It incorporated the Solomom’s to Bellin’s theoretical east coast.
1777 Buffon,   Carte de la Nouvelle Hollande and Carte de la Nouvelle Galles Méridionale. The first individual printed map to isolate and split the continent into separate West and East sheets. Published in Paris for his monumental Histoire Naturelle.
1793 Hunter, J. Chart Shewing the Track of the Waaksamhey’d Transport from Port Jackson in New South Wales to Batavia in 1792.
1794 Hunter, J  Lauf des Transport-Schiffes Waaksmaheyd
1798 Cassini, La Nuova Olanda e la Nuova Guinea. From Cassini’s, Nuovo Atlante Geografico Universale, this beautifully hand-coloured copperplate engraving synthesised Cook’s discoveries.

From, Prevost, A. Histoire Générale des Voyages. Paris.

References:
Mickwitz & Miekkavaara, The A.E. Nordenskiold Collection of Maps up to 1800 Helsinki 1979-1995 :: 638.
Tooley, R.V. The Mapping of Australia. London 1979 :: 156, ill.pl.9, 80, p.24.
Clancy, R. The Mapping of Terra Australia. Sydney 1995 :: p.92, ill.6.28.
Perry, T. The Discovery of Australia. Sydney 1982 :: ill. pl. 30.

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 1810325
State Library New South Wales: 74VvkoXDzaVA

Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703 - 1772)

Bellin was a French multifaceted hydrographer and geographer had an incredibly successful 50 year career producing maps. His illustrious career started at just 18 years of age when he was appointed Chief Cartographer to the French Navy in 1721. His attention to detail, accuracy and high standard of workmanship resulted in him playing an integral role to France’s leadership in European cartography. In addition to being the Chief Cartographer of France’s hydrographic office, he was also a member of the Académie de Marine, the Royal Society of London, and the Philosophes (French intellectual group).

View other items by Jacques Nicolas Bellin