Unusual pair of large-format maps of New Zealand

VANDERMAELEN, Philippe.

Océanique. Partie de la N.le Zèlande. No. 59. [& 60.]
Brussels, 1827. Original colour. Two lithographic maps, each c. 500 x 530mm.

An unusual pair of maps of New Zealand which, despite being published over fifty years after Cook, show little of the European settlement of the islands. The colonies of Kerikeri & Bluff, the oldest colonies (1822 & 1823) are not marked. The abundent space around the islands are filled with a French text, describing the geography and the Maori ('War is the dominant passion of the people'), although facts are not always accurate: it dates Cook's visit and discovery of Cook's Strait to 1779 rather than 1769.

The maps were published in the 'Atlas Universel de Geographie', the first atlas to have every map on the same scale, 1:1,641,836. Because of this standardisation it was the first time that some areas of the world were shown with any detail.


Stock ID : 21699