Acquired From: Gowrie Galleries
Colouring: Coloured
Condition: Very Good
Confirmed: Yes
Date Acquired: 21/6/2002
Dealers ID No.: M38 (468.01, 504.01, 888.01, 1185.01, 1242.01)
Description: This influential map of the southern hemisphere was drawn by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, Chief Hydrographer to the French Navy and member of the Académie Royale de Marine. It was prepared to accompany volume 15 of Abbé Antoine François Prévost monumental Histoire Générale des Voyages, published in Paris in 1753 by Pierre-François Didot, and was later reused in Charles de Brossess Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes (1756).nThis is the first French edition of Bellins Carte Réduite des Terres Australes. The map was subsequently reissued in Dutch (Tooley M38/1), German (M38/2), and Danish (M38/3) editions. While the geographical content remained unchanged across these versions, the titles and textual annotations differ, reflecting the language and editorial preferences of each publisher.nBellins map reflects European conceptions of the southern hemisphere on the eve of James Cooks voyages. It includes both empirical details drawn from seventeenth-century Dutch and French explorations, and speculative geography, particularly in its depiction of Terres Australes Inconnues (unknown southern lands). The partially charted outline of New Holland (Australia) is shown with a notably undefined eastern coastline, while New Guinea appears clearly separated from the Australian continent. nNotable features include:- A conjectural eastern coastline of New Holland, prior to Cooks 1770 landfall- Named regions based on Dutch exploration: Terre de Diemen (Tasmania), Terre de Nuyts (South Australia), and Terre de Witt (northwest coast)- A prominent hypothetical southern polar continent- Tracks of major exploratory voyages by Magellan, Queirós, and Tasman, charting the path of European incursions into the southern seas.nBellins Carte Réduite is emblematic of Enlightenment-era cartography, occupying a transitional space between classical geographical theory and the emerging empirical knowledge that would reshape global maps in the late eighteenth century. Widely circulated and reprinted throughout the 1750s and 1760s, the map had a lasting impact on European perceptions of the southern hemisphere.
Engraver: Schley, Jakob van
First published: Histoire Générale des Voyages, vol. 11, no. 8, edited by Abbé Antoine François Prévost dExiles. Paris: Pierre-François Didot, 1753
Image Size (cm): 27.5×20
Mapmaker: Bellin, Jacques Nicolas (1703-1772)
Notes: Map purchases list 5 others
Price: A1,900 plus gst
Primary Category: Southern Continent
Purchase Reference: Inv. 1033
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: 1753 (French)
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