Original map of the British Isles ("Les Isles Britanniques"), engraved on copper with hand-coloured outlines, from the work of Robert de Vaugondy. According to the cartouche, it was corrected by Citizen Lamarche, geographer and Vaugondy's successor, in Year III of the French Republic (1794-1795). It shows Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales, with the French and Flemish coast across the Strait of Dover.
Gilles and Didier Robert de Vaugondy, father and son, were renowned eighteenth-century cartographers, descendants of the cartographer Nicolas Sanson, from whom they inherited much of their cartographic material. In 1757 they published their most famous work, the Atlas Universel, and in 1760 Didier Robert de Vaugondy was appointed geographer to Louis XV. Their successor Charles-François Delamarche later revised and corrected the plates.
Medium: Copper engraving (intaglio) on paper, with hand-coloured outlines.
Artist / after: Robert de Vaugondy; corrected by Citizen Lamarche, his successor.
Date: Year III of the French Republic (1794-1795), as stated in the cartouche.
Dimensions: Sheet 12.5 x 17.7 in (31.8 x 45 cm).
Condition: Light toning and scattered age foxing in the margins, more visible at the upper corners; a handwritten "6" in the upper left margin and its offset in the right one; the map itself clean; original central fold; wide margins.