Original map of Judea or the Holy Land ("Judée ou Terre Sainte"), 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. It shows the division by tribes, the six provinces (Galilee, Samaria, Judea, Perea, Trachonitis and Iturea) and the three Roman Palestines, with symbols for royal, Levitical and refuge cities.
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.
Dimensions: Plate 10.2 x 11.7 in (26 x 29.8 cm); sheet 12.5 x 17.7 in (31.8 x 45 cm).
Condition: Heavy foxing in the margins; light toning on the map; original central fold; old numbers in the upper margin; wide margins.