Original map of the Near East entitled "Carte des premiers âges du monde - Géographie ecclésiastique de la Turquie d'Asie et de la Perse", from the Black Sea and Egypt to the Persian Gulf, engraved on copper with hand-coloured outlines, from the work of Robert de Vaugondy. According to the cartouche, it was corrected by Delamarche, geographer, his successor. Signed lower right by the engraver E. Dussy. A colour key distinguishes the patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria.
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 Delamarche, his successor.
Engraver: E. Dussy (signed in the plate, lower right: "Gravé par E. Dussy").
Dimensions: Plate 10.3 x 11.7 in (26.1 x 29.7 cm); sheet 12.5 x 17.7 in (31.8 x 45 cm).
Condition: Good condition: fairly clean margins with a few small spots, one in the upper margin by the fold; original central fold; old number in the upper margin.