Original map of the German Empire ("Empire d'Allemagne"), engraved on copper with hand-coloured outlines, from the work of Robert de Vaugondy, from the Nouvel Atlas Portatif. According to the cartouche, it was corrected by Citizen Lamarche, geographer, successor to Vaugondy, in Year III of the French Republic (1794-1795). It covers the area from the United Provinces and the Low Countries to Poland and Hungary, and from Denmark and the Baltic to northern Italy, with a scale bar at the upper left.
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 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, geographer, successor to Vaugondy.
Date: Year III of the French Republic (1794-1795), as stated in the cartouche.
Source: Nouvel Atlas Portatif.
Dimensions: Plate 10.1 x 12.6 in (25.6 x 32 cm); sheet 12.5 x 17.7 in (31.8 x 45 cm).
Condition: Scattered age foxing in the margins and also on the map, most visible on the cartouche and in the left margin; light toning; number "21" written in the upper margin; original central fold; wide margins.