DESCRIPTION: One of the first port plans of the Bay of Palma, Spain (1730) on the Bealeric Island of Mallorca (Majorca) created for navigational purposes in an atlas for the Mediterranean Sea: “Recueil de Plusiers Plans des Ports et Rades de la Mer Mediterranee". The chart covers from Fort de Porto pin in the West to the far plains east of Palma ( "Palme") . Shows the region around Palama including fortifications, bastions, redoubts, gun batteries, and numerous windmills both to the east and west of the city. The Bay of Palma is referred to as the "Golfe de Mayorque".
This chart was published by the team of Henri Michelot and Laurens Bremond, both associated with the French Royal Galley Corps. In their business relationship it appears that Bremond provided the retail space in the port of Marseille, France where this chart, as well as other atlases and nautical prints were sold. Michelot, the chief pilot or"Pilote Hauturière" for the galley service provided the name recognition and authority needed for the charts to sell widely.
Henry Michelot and Laurens Bremond
Henri Michelot was an early eighteenth century French cartographer with a close connection to the sea. He described himself as Hydrographer and Pilot of the Galere Royale (Royal Galley), and was associated with a corps of approximately forty galleys (galeres), oared sailing vessels operating in the Mediterranean and along the Atlantic coast. In the Mediterranean, these galleys were based primarily at the naval arsenal in Marseilles, France. They were typically rigged with triangular Mediterranean lateen sails, a configuration well suited to coastal navigation and variable winds.
Bookseller and royal hydrographer Laurent Bremond, styled “Hydrographe du Roi et de la Ville,” sold charts and maritime books from his establishment in Marseille, located near the port at the corner of Reboul Street (“au Coin de Reboul”). Bremond played a key role in the commercial distribution of nautical knowledge, supplying working mariners as well as official and institutional clients.
The collaborative output of Michelot and Bremond, produced roughly between 1715 and 1730, included an atlas of sixteen small-scale charts, a port book containing thirty-seven large-scale charts, and a Mediterranean coast pilot titled Portulan de la Mer Mediterranee, ou Guide des Pilotes Cotiers. Issued in multiple languages and published in editions extending at least to 1805, this body of work became a primary source of navigational information for the Mediterranean for many decades. The charts of Michelot and Bremond were highly influential and were frequently copied by later chartmakers, including Kitchin and Roux.
PUBLICATION DATE: 1730
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: Spain
BODY OF WATER: Mediterranean Sea
CONDITION: Poor.
Paper delicate. Small marginal tears. Repairs from back to close two small tears, largely invisible except for a small 1/16" hole in the lower "Grande Plaine".
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: P. Starck-man
SIZE: 10
" x
7 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 4
PRICE: $200
ADD TO CART
|