Philippines by Bellin J.N. 1756-1770
Bellin was the official Hydrographer of the Royal French Navy. His chart is drawn directly from Murillo Velarde's 1734 map of the Philippines but is not a direct copy as Bellin includes several additions (including the mythical "Isle de St. Jean" to the east of Mindanao).
Beneath the cartouche is a brief account of the history of the Philippines. Bellin notes in this account that his map was not a "servile copy" of that by Murillo. He published a memorial praising the Jesuit's work, although he criticized the way the longitude for Manila had been reached.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772)
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, a French geographer, was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at the age of 18, he was appointed hydrographer of the Ministry of the Navy following the French hydrographic office's creation and the Dépot of charts and plans of the Navy. Appointed hydrographic engineer in August 1741. Member of the Academy of the Navy and the Royal Society of London.
Over the course of a 50-year career, he drew the maps of several major works of his time such as Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle-France de Charlevoix (1744); Histoire générale des voyages de l'Abbé Prévost (published between 1746 and 1759) ); Neptune François (1753), Hydrographie Françoise (1756-1765), and Petit Atlas Français (1763) - reissued as Petit Atlas Maritime (1765). He is the most copied cartographer of the 18th century.
His maps of Canada and the French territories of North America are of considerable value. This is all the more remarkable since, an archetype of the cabinet cartographer, Bellin never came to America. For his cartography of the St. Lawrence River, he entrusted handwritten maps to navigators to correct and enrich. With each return of these maps, he was updating his knowledge. Two basic needs drive its cartography of North America: to secure navigation on the St. Lawrence River and to claim for France the lands explored by the French in the Great Lakes region and along the Mississippi River.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin died on March 21, 1772, in Versailles. In the burial certificate, he is described as "the first engineer of the navy and the deposit of plans, royal censor of the academy of navy and the royal society of London".
Carte Réduite des Isles Philippines Pour servir aux Vaisseaux du Roy. ... 1752.
Item Number: 27133 Authenticity Guarantee
Category: Antique maps > Asia > Southeast Asia
Old, antique sea chart of the Philippines, by Jacques Nicolas Bellin.
"A fundamental map for collector of Philippine cartography."
Third state (of three) with the additional red rhumb lines.
Date of the first edition: 1756
Date of this map: 1756-1770
Date on map: 1752
Copper engraving, printed on paper.
Size (not including margins): 87 x 55cm (33.9 x 21.5 inches)
Verso: Blank
Condition: excellent.
Condition Rating: A
References: Quirino, p.70 6; Geldart (Philippines), p.53.
From: L'Hydrographie Françoise ou Recueil des Cartes Dressées au Déposit des Plans de la Marine pour le Service des Vaisseaux du Roy. Paris, 1756-70. (Shirley (Brit.Lib.), M.Bell-2a)
Bellin was the official Hydrographer of the Royal French Navy. His chart is drawn directly from Murillo Velarde's 1734 map of the Philippines but is not a direct copy as Bellin includes several additions (including the mythical "Isle de St. Jean" to the east of Mindanao).
Beneath the cartouche is a brief account of the history of the Philippines. Bellin notes in this account that his map was not a "servile copy" of that by Murillo. He published a memorial praising the Jesuit's work, although he criticized the way the longitude for Manila had been reached.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772)
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, a French geographer, was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at the age of 18, he was appointed hydrographer of the Ministry of the Navy following the French hydrographic office's creation and the Dépot of charts and plans of the Navy. Appointed hydrographic engineer in August 1741. Member of the Academy of the Navy and the Royal Society of London.
Over the course of a 50-year career, he drew the maps of several major works of his time such as Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle-France de Charlevoix (1744); Histoire générale des voyages de l'Abbé Prévost (published between 1746 and 1759) ); Neptune François (1753), Hydrographie Françoise (1756-1765), and Petit Atlas Français (1763) - reissued as Petit Atlas Maritime (1765). He is the most copied cartographer of the 18th century.
His maps of Canada and the French territories of North America are of considerable value. This is all the more remarkable since, an archetype of the cabinet cartographer, Bellin never came to America. For his cartography of the St. Lawrence River, he entrusted handwritten maps to navigators to correct and enrich. With each return of these maps, he was updating his knowledge. Two basic needs drive its cartography of North America: to secure navigation on the St. Lawrence River and to claim for France the lands explored by the French in the Great Lakes region and along the Mississippi River.
Jacques-Nicolas Bellin died on March 21, 1772, in Versailles. In the burial certificate, he is described as "the first engineer of the navy and the deposit of plans, royal censor of the academy of navy and the royal society of London".
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