The Afriterra Foundation is a non-profit Cartographic Library and Archive assembling and preserving the original rare maps of Africa in a definitive place for education and interpretation. The Foundation views cartography as a medium that uniquely links art, technology, and history.

Nova Africae Geographica Et Hydrographica Descriptio, auct: G. Blaeu 1669.
Willem Bleau, Alexis Hubert Jaillot, and Nicolas Berey
Paris, 1669

Presented by Gerald Rizzo, M.D.
The Afriterra Foundation and Map Library

[Below & left of main title:] A Paris Chez H. Ialot Proch Les Grand Augustin Au bou Du Poneuf 1669. [Imprint]: A Paris, Chez Nicolas Berey, En lumineaur du Roy, proche les Augustins, aux deux Globes;  46 ¼ x 66 inches; 16 sheets (including text & title) joined & mounted on new linen; only minimal abrasion with one slight loss of text upper right, else excellent dark impression, encased in a fine Dutch-style archival frame, with u-v filtering plexiglass.

This specimen is a very rare, exceptionally well-preserved wall map. It stands as the visually richest map of Africa produced during the Golden Age of mapmaking. Being the first edition of the Paris plates, this example is also distinguished by an uncommonly strong ink impression.

This and the other wall maps produced by Jaillot from Blaeu, are the former’s first dated publications. They were evidently highly desired as they were issued with various dates and remained available in Jaillot’s stock until his death in 1712.

Gunter Schilder [Monumenta Cartographica, V, 5.b, pp. 208-213, (also pp. 145-159 re. sources for Blaeu map]) records two states of the first edition with the 1669 date. The earlier of these has the imprint of Berey, as our example. This suggests that the map had been in preparation as far back as 1667 when Nicolas Berey II died, as Schilder speculates, or farther back still to 1665, when Nicolas Berey I, Jaillot’s father-in-law died.

Jaillot faithfully re-engraved Willem Blaeu’s map of 1608 capturing all the verve and visual drama of its Dutch model, but rendering it more accessible and readable by providing the text panels in both French and Latin and by translating place names into French. Schilder thoroughly discusses the sources of both the work’s geography and ornamentation (see the reference above). Particularly striking are the illustrations of ships engaged in battle or confronting sea monsters or monstrous seas. Notable is the variation in the conventional Neptune depiction of the sea-god, as well as the cartouche with a European woman flanked by two African women, and a border displaying contemporary depictions of costumes and centers of trade. The interior of Africa teems with images of wildlife of all kinds, but place-names and physical features need further historical validation in the context of both myth and testimony. The mathematical basis of the map lies at the lower left containing a diagram and text with the title (in translation): “Method of calculating the distances between places on spherical triangles.”

In addition to the Bleau - Jaillot wall map, there are two digital prints from the collection of the Afriterra Foundation:

Effigies Ampli Regni Auriferi Guineae in Africa
Caroli Allard / Cornelius Clasez / Luis Teixeira
Amsterdam, 1690

Tabula Quarta di Libya
Ptolemy / Francesco Berlinghieri
Florence, 1482