Elegant French antique map of Europe. Victor Levasseur c1845
$295.00
Europe antique map, decoratively embellished with winged putti in various cultural and intellectual pursuits, promoting progress and brotherhood, peace and abundance, and equality and truth. The countries are listed each side of the map together with a small portrait and the country's heraldic coat of arms.
Victor Levasseur (1800-1870) was an engineer-geographer and land surveyor in the City of Paris, and a Member of the Geographic Society. His first maps were published in the miniature (pocket atlas) Atlas Classique Universel de Geographie c.1835 and Atlas des Cartes Historiques. Levasseur established his reputation as a mapmaker with his very decorative maps for Atlas National Illustré des Departements et des 86 Departements et des Possessions de la France, first published in 1838, with maps 'Drawn after the Works of the Land Registry of the Military Depot and of the Bridges and Roads, by Victor Levasseur, Geographic Engineering Attache'.
Levasseur employed the finest map engravers and illustrators to produce decorative steel-engraved maps – surrounded by appropriate imagery. The maps were originally issued with regional outlining and department border colour, but in later editions the regions were filled with soft hand-colour. Atlas National Illustré (Illustrated National Atlas of France) was immensely popular. There were a number of editions between 1838 and 1872, with maps varying in number, according to France’s possessions at the time of publication. Victor Levasseur was no longer active as a mapmaker after 1854, although his name continued to be used on his maps. After his death, publication of Atlas National Ilustré was published by his son, geographer and economist Pierre Émile Levasseur (1828-1911).
This map is in very good condition with contemporary hand-colour to the map, and fine later colour of the engraved embellishments. To map border measures 290 x 450mm (11.3/8 x 19.3/8 inches). Page size is 350 x 520mm (13.3/4 x 20.1/2 inches)
