French Map of the XVII Provinces des Pays-Bas — Copperplate, c.1680–1750
$ 68.64
Description
French Map of the XVII Provinces des Pays-Bas — Copperplate, c.1680–1750. Laid paper, uncolored as issued: Copperplate engraving on hand-made laid paper. Engraving sharp throughout with fine detail in the coastal hachuring and province lettering. Uncolored — period-correct for French school atlases and geographical manuals. A small copperplate-engraved map of the Seventeen Provinces of the Low Countries, pulled from an unidentified French geographical compendium, c.1680–1750. The cartouche reads 'LES XVII PROVINCES des PAYS-BAS' — a historically retrospective Habsburg-era designation for the unified Low Countries that ceased to exist as a political unit after the Peace of Münster in 1648 but persisted as a cultural-geographic label in French publishing for another century. Ferro-based longitude graduations and French toponymy throughout ('Mer d'Allemagne' for the North Sea, 'Angleterre' across the Channel) confirm French origin. Pre-modern political geography: Brabant, Flandre, Hollande, Frise, Over Yssel, Gelderland, Luxembourg, Hainaut, and Artois all labeled as separate provinces. The Zuider Zee appears as open inland sea — a century and a half before the Afsluitdijk closure reshaped the Dutch coastline. Book provenance confirmed: Page marker 'pag. 76' and sheet number 'No. 4' visible in the margins, placing this as the fourth map in a numbered sequence within a bound geographical compendium or school atlas. Candidate publishers include Nicolas Sanson (1650s–90s), Nicolas de Fer (1690s–1710s), and the Brion/Buffier geographies (1720s–40s). Laid paper, uncolored as issued: Copperplate engraving on hand-made laid paper. Engraving sharp throughout with fine detail in the coastal hachuring and province lettering. Uncolored — period-correct for French school atlases and geographical manuals. Condition: Clean laid paper, lightly toned with original folds intact. Engraving sharp and fully readable throughout. Moderate margins. For collectors of French cartographic history, Low Countries regional maps, or pre-Enlightenment geographical publishing — a period snapshot of the moment before Cassini and D'Anville transformed French mapping into the most rigorous in Europe. Included: Loose plate only. Unframed, unmatted.
