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Books, Autographs & Prints

Tuesday 20 June 2023 e Wednesday 21 June 2023, 03:00 PM • Rome

188

Legatura - Carta della Francia

Carte de la France par Belleyme. - Environs de Macon et Geneve. No 86. Macon 117. Bourg. 148. Geneve., 1791

Estimate

€ 500 - 700

Sold

€ 581

The price includes buyer's premium

Information

Paris, Vignon, 1791. Large unmounted geographical map, with squares on beige and orange canvas, paper insert by the geographer, elegant slipcase in red morocco with gold and green decorations.

 


Specialist Notes

One of the very first maps of the French departments, published one year after their creation.


Stunning wall map of France adorned with a monumental title cartouche, decorated with the attributes of the arts and sciences. The title is placed on a stone pedestal, on which are placed two medallions containing three fleurs-de-lis, and which reads "Assemblée Nationale. La Loi et le Roi" and "Louis XVI Roi des François"; above them are two other medallions "Département de l'Ain. Fédération à Paris 14 juillet 1790" and "Département de l'Yonne. Fédération à Paris 14 juillet 1790". To the left of the title, the book of the Constitution is placed on an "altar of the fatherland", with the Phrygian cap placed on the tip of a bayonet. Below the title is the medallion-shaped label of the Parisian publisher Vignon. With alphabetical table of departments and their districts and table of symbols used on the map. The card shows Corsica (280 x 157 mm), before its division into two departments in 1793, Golo to the north and Liamone to the south. Shortly after the start of the French Revolution, France was divided into departments following the decree of December 22, 1789, issued by the Constituent Assembly to replace the French provinces, which were deemed contrary to the homogeneity of the nation. Their exact number and boundaries were fixed on February 26, 1790, and their existence came into effect on March 4, 1790. Initially 83, between 1791 and 1793 three more departments were added: Vaucluse, which included Avignon and the annexed Comtat Venaissin in 1791, then the Mont Blanc department, when Savoy was incorporated into France in 1792; the third department was created in 1793, when the Rhône-et-Loire department was split in two. Their number reached 133 departments in 1812, during the Napoleonic conquests. Very nice specimen, with watercolor outlines at the time.