DESCRIPTION: Small antique nautical chart / plan depicts the small walled village of Agde, France along the lower portion of the Riviere de l'Eraux (Hérault River) with two bridges. At top left is the junction of that river with the Canal Royal (Canal du Midi) and l'Ecluse (locks), well known because of their unusual round shape. Other feature include Mont d'Adge, Fort de Brescon offshore of "le Mole" (a breakwater or jetty), la Conque, and Plage de Tau (Thau).
This antique nautical chart was produced ca. 1730 by French hydrographer and pilot of the French royal galley "La Reale" Henry Michelot. The port plan was one of 37 original plans published in Marseilles by Michelot and Laurens Bremond in a volume titled "Recueil de Plusieurs Plans de Ports et Rades de la Mer Mediterranée." Later in the 18th century the plans were copied and reprinted by Roux, Allezard, Kitchin and others.
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: 1727
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: France
BODY OF WATER: Mediterranean
CONDITION: Very good.
Paper only very slightly tanned but strong with good platemark.
COLORING: None
ENGRAVER: P. Starck-man
SIZE: 9
" x
6 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 4
PRICE: $375
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