Curio

State Library of New South Wales
Grande mappemonde céleste, terrestre, historique & cosmographique, dediée au Roi, où sont représentés les differens systêmes du monde, 1786

Grande mappemonde céleste, terrestre, historique & cosmographique, dediée au Roi, où sont représentés les differens systêmes du monde, 1786

Grande mappemonde céleste, terrestre, historique & cosmographique, dediée au Roi, où sont représentés les differens systêmes du monde, 1786

Louis Charles Desnos

M4 100/1786/1

Paris: Desnos, 1786

Hand coloured printed map


This beautiful large wall map consists of six joined sheets. It is hand-coloured and features a twin hemispherical map of the world (including the routes of James Cook). The lavish borders are decorated with the signs of the zodiac, astronomical and astrological dials and wind points. The lower part of the map consists of text describing the geography of the three ancient continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. 


In the lower half of the map

By Emma Gray, 2014

In the lower half of the map, twin hemispheres are supported by five groups of columns on either side of text panels describing the three ancient continents, Europe, Asia and Africa. The busts represent great European explorers, scientists and men of letters. Between the hemispheres is a lunar phase diagram, the precession of the seasons with zodiacal equivalents, and a device explaining the astronomical systems of Ptolemy, Tycho Brahe and Copernicus. The outer borders contain information about the characteristics of the known planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and the Moon. Geographical and astronomical terms are described in text panels in a border surrounding the hemispheres, and between each panel there are sketches of the principal constellations. Cherubic windheads circle each hemisphere.