Much more than the compiler of a flag chart: Jacques Nicolas
Bellin (1703-1772) is considered as the founder of the French
marine cartography. He was appointed the first ingenieur
hydrographe de la Marine in 1741, and later Hydrographer
of the King and member of the Royal Society of London.
Bellin worked for the Depost des Cartes et Plans et
Journeaux de la Marine pour le Service des Vaisseaux du Roy,
better known as the Depots des Cartes et Plans de la
Marine over fifty years. He was assigned a major survey
of the coasts of France, and later of all the known coasts
of the world. He produced a very large number of sea charts
of the highest quality.
Among Bellin’s main works are:
the maps illustrating Charlevoix’s history of Japan
(1736);
L’Hydrographie Française, including 75 maps
of the coasts of France (1756);
the maps illustrating l’Abbé Prevost’s
Histoire generale des Voyages, in 80 volumes (!)
(1746-1757);
Le Petit Atlas Maritime : Recueil de cartes et plans des
quatre parties du monde, in five volumes (1764);
Atlas - Le Neptune françois ou recueil des cartes
marines levées et gravées par ordre du Roi,
a posthumous compilation of Bellin’s maps published
by the Printing Office of the Department of Marine in
Versailles (1773).
Bellin’s original maps are highly prized by historians and
collectors. Today, a map costs between 200 and 300 euros. An original
of the Hydrographie Française was sold for 8,000 euros in
July 2000. By
googling
Jacques Nicolas Bellin, you will find several images of
his maps, from all over the world.
The Service Hydrographique et Oceanographique de la Marine,
publisher of the Album des Pavillons
[pay00], has maintained the
tradition of releasing marine maps of the highest quality.
