1) Carte des Isles Philippines (1e feuille); 2) Carte des Isles Philippines (2e feuille)

Description

original hand-colour copper engraving, enhanced colouring, different cartouche: no right gridline.

VERY RARE special edition map of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Palawan, from ‘Le petit atlas maritime : recueil de cartes et de plans des quatre parties du monde en cinq volumes’ tome III (of 5), no. 65 and 66; published in Paris; [The Small Maritime Atlas: Collection of Maps and plans of four parts of the world in five volumes’] based on Father Murillo de Velarde’s map, the ‘Queen of all Philippine Maps’.

This Bellin map is the cornerstone of any antique map collection of the Philippines. However, aside from the regular edition which is very commonly featured, there is a special edition with a different cartouche and with original contemporary hand-colour, as published in a small French Atlas with Naval Charts a year later than the original uncoloured first edition.

As you can see, not only is the cartouche different, but also the colouring is very different from the multi-colour regular versions,
truly in maritime style, and this edition serves as a much rarer collectible than the lower-priced regular editions.
Should you have this version in your collection already, please treat it as a separate map as it is not even recorded by Quirino!
Otherwise please consider this rarity for your collection!

About the author:
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important and prolific mapmakers of the 18th Century. During his term, the Depot became the centre for the publication of sea charts, such as the ‘Neptune François’ and the ‘Atlas Maritime’ and the ‘Hydrographie Francaise’, popular well into the next Century. In 1721, at age 18, he became hydrographer to the French Navy and 20 years later, the First Ingénieur de la Marine of the French Hydrographic Office and Official Hydrographer of the French King.