1794 D'Anville Map of Italy
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Description: An rare and beautiful 1794 map of Italy by J. B. B. d'Anville. Covers Italy from Switzerland south to Sicily including Corsica, Sardinia, and parts of North Africa and Dalmatia. Italy itself is divided into various states, duchies, fiefs, and kingdoms. These include the States of the Church, Tuscany, Venice, Parma, Modena, Naples, Savoy, Milan, Piedmont, Genoa, etc. Offers an extraordinary level of detail throughout, noting post roads, towns, castles, monasteries, forests, swamps, rivers, cities and mountains. There are considerable notations in the upper margin, lower margin and in the Gulf of Genoa regarding the activities of Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. These notations are in a light pencil and can be removed entirely at the buyer's request. For now, we have chosen to leave them as they are not disfiguring and, we believe, add a bit of historical context to the map. Published by Laurie and Whittle as plate no. 16 in the 1797 edition of Thomas Kitchin's General Atlas.
Date: 1794 (dated)
Source: Kitchin, Thomas, Kitchin's General Atlas, describing the Whole Universe: being a complete collection of the most approved maps extant; corrected with the greatest care, and augmented from the last edition of D'Anville and Robert with many improvements by other eminent geographers, engraved on Sixty-Two plates, comprising Thirty Seven maps., Laurie & Whittle, London, 1797.
References: Rumsey 0411.021, 2310.030. Phillips (Atlases) 4300-16, 699. OCLC 7160203. Shirley, R., Maps in the atlases of the British Library, T.LAU-1c (1799 ed.). National Maritime Museum, 375 (3rd ed. 1801).
Cartographer: Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697-1782) was perhaps the most important and prolific cartographer of the 18th century. D'Anville's love of cartography manifested itself at the tender age of fifteen, when he amused himself by composing maps for Latin authors. At twenty-two D'Anville was appointed Geographer to the King of France. As both a cartographer and a geographer, he instituted a reform in the general practice of cartography. Unlike most cartographers, D'Anville did not rely on earlier maps to inform his work, rather he based his maps on actual surveys and research that he conducted himself. His maps were thus the most accurate and comprehensive of his period. Thomas Basset and Philip Porter write: "It was because of D'Anville's resolve to depict only those features which could be proven to be true that his maps are often said to represent a scientific reformation in cartography." (The Journal of African History, Vol. 32, No. 3 (1991), pp. 367-413). The work of D'Anville thus marks a critical point in the history of cartography and opens the way to the maps of English cartographers Cary, Thomson and Pinkerton in the early 19th century. Click here for a list of rare maps by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville.
Cartographer: Laurie and Whittle (fl. 1794 - 1858) were London, England, based map and atlas publishers active in the late 18th and early 19th century. Generally considered to be the successors to the Robert Sayer firm, Laurie and Whittle was founded by Robert Laurie (c. 1755 - 1836) and James Whittle (1757-1818). Robert Laurie was a skilled mezzotint engraver and is known to have worked with Robert Sayer on numerous projects. James Whittle was a well-known London socialite and print seller whose Fleet Street shop was a popular haunt for intellectual luminaries. The partnership began taking over the general management of Sayer's firm around 1787; however, they did not alter the Sayer imprint until after Sayer's death in 1794. Apparently Laurie did most of the work in managing the firm and hence his name appeared first in the "Laurie and Whittle" imprint. Together Laurie and Whittle published numerous maps and atlases, often bringing in other important cartographers of the day, including Kitchin, Faden, Jefferys and others to update and modify their existing Sayer plates. Robert Laurie retired in 1812, leaving the day to day management of the firm to his son, Richard Holmes Laurie (1777 - 1858). Under R. H. Laurie and James Whittle, the firm renamed itself "Whittle and Laurie". Whittle himself died in six years later in 1818, and thereafter the firm continued under the imprint of "R. H. Laurie". After R. H. Laurie's death the publishing house and its printing stock came under control of A. G. Findlay, who had long been associated with Laurie and Whittle. Since, Laurie and Whittle has passed through numerous permeations, with part of the firm still extant as an English publisher of maritime or nautical charts, 'Imray, Laurie, Norie and Wilson Ltd.' Click here for a list of rare maps from Laurie & Whittle.
Cartographer: Thomas Kitchin (1718 - 1784) was a London based cartographic engraver and publisher. Kitchin was a very active engraver who produced a large corpus of work both in and out of the cartographic arena. He is responsible for numerous maps published in the London Magazine, and is known to have partnered, at various times, with Thomas Jefferys, Emmanuel Bowen and Laurie and Whittle. Many of Kitchin's maps continued to be updated and published well after his death in 1784. Click here for a list of rare maps by Thomas Kitchin.
Size: Printed area measures 20 x 23.5 inches (50.8 x 59.69 centimeters)
Condition: Very good condition. Original centerfold. Light offsetting. Some pencil notations - see description. Blank on verso. Original platemark visible. Wide clean margins.
Code: Italy-anville-1794 (Necessary for phone inquiries: 646-320-8650)
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