Mappe-monde geo-hydrographique, ou description generale du globe terrestre et aquatique, en deux plans-hemispheres….

Rare first state of Hubert Jaillot’s elegant double-hemisphere world map dated 1695. In the early states of this map the last digit of the date are not engraved but are added in manuscript. The geography of the map shows no distinct changes from Jaillot’s world map of 1674 but the decorative cartouches between the hemispheres are very different. The later editions are also known for the inclusion of the words ‘Geographe de sa Majest’ which appears beneath Jaillot’s inscription in the dedication.

The map features two decorative cartouches at the top and bottom, with a dedication to the Sun King, Louis XIV. At centre left is the figure of Pheme, the goddess of fame and on the right is Nike the Goddess of strength, speed and victory, both holding the French Royal Arms of France Moderne. The lower cartouche features Jaillot’s royal privilege and is bordered on the right by the figure of Triton, a fish-tailed sea god who was the son of Poseidon, king of the seas. Triton stilled the waves with the blow of a conch-shell while to the left is the goddess Aphrodite Derceto represented as a mermaid holding a fish as a symbol of the fertility and life of water.

The map was engraved by Louis Cordier, with the geographical information provided by Nicholas Sanson, Geographer to the King, and widely considered to be the father of French cartography. Jaillot played an important role in continuing Sanson’s legacy. Following Sanson’s death in 1667, the business was inherited by his sons Adrien and Guillaume who partnered with Jaillot and his contemporary Pierre Duval to publish Sanson’s maps. The first such publication was Jaillot’s Atlas Nouveau of 1692.

The map shows Australia according to Tasman’s first and second voyages 1642-44 and includes the earlier Dutch discoveries made by Houtman 1619, van Leeuwin 1622, Nuyts 1627 and de Wit 1628. The Trial Islands 1622 (see below), are also included but incorrectly placed. California is shown as an island.

TRIAL ISLANDS HISTORY / present Barrow Island, north west Western Australia.

On many early Dutch charts the Trial Islands are clearly marked, as their supposed discovery by Captain Brookes in 1622, placed them, directly in the path of VOC ships sailing to Batavia.

Their position caused great concern to Hessel Gerritsz who had been appointed the firs cartographer of the VOC in 1617 and quickly added the islands on Dutch charts. The island was named after Brookes ship the Trial, which had sailed for Java using the new sea route to the Indies pioneered by Brouwer in 1611. The Trial had struck unknown rocks on the night of 25th May 1622, and wrecked with only forty-six survivors including Captain Brookes. In his subsequent report to the VOC authorities in Batavia, Brookes stated that the rocks were well west of their true position in an attempt to avoid blame for his error. Soon after a Dutch ship, the Wapen van Hoorn, ran aground in a storm at the land of d’Eendracht but managed to sail after the storm abated. Concerned for the viability of their trade route, the VOC prioritised the accuracy of their charting of the region, with captains and pilots being required to record all shallows and reefs in the area. Due to their incorrect placement on the Gerritsz chart, the Trial Rocks remained a mystery for a further two hundred years until Phillip Parker King, sailing in the Mermaid, investigated their position in 1820 and finally confirmed that ‘there remains no doubt in my mind but that Barrow Island … are the same Tryal Rocks’.