Original map of France ("La France divisée en 32 Gouvernemens"), engraved on copper with hand-coloured outlines. According to the cartouche, it shows France divided into 32 governments in order to compare the old division into provinces with the new one into departments, and is the work of C.F. Delamarche, successor of the geographer Robert de Vaugondy, in 1806. A most interesting record of the transition from Ancien Régime to revolutionary France.
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: C.F. Delamarche, successor of Robert de Vaugondy.
Date: 1806, as stated in the cartouche.
Dimensions: Plate 10.0 x 9.4 in (25.3 x 23.8 cm); sheet 12.5 x 17.7 in (31.8 x 45 cm).
Condition: Extensive age foxing in the margins, especially at the sides, light toning of the paper and a few small spots on the map; original central fold; wide margins.