Atlas géographique et physique du Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, fondé sur des observations astronomiques, des mesures trigonométriques et des nivellemens barométriques; Par Al. de Humboldt
THE FINAL LIVRAISON OF HUMBOLDT’S MEXICAN ATLAS
IN THE PUBLISHER’S PORTFOLIO, NEVER BOUND
Ex-coll. Émile-René du Crêst de Villeneuve
Paris: J.H. Stône for F. Schoell, 1811. First edition in French.
Folio (23 1/8” x 16 7/8”, 586mm x 429mm): π-2π2. 4 leaves, pp. [4] (half-title, blank, title, blank) 1 2-4 (4pp. contents). With 9 plates (nos. 12-20): 2 sepia aquatints and 7 engravings, of which 4 are folding and hand-colored.
Presented in a contemporary blue paper portfolio (re-backed) with six pairs of string ties. On the front board, title and author in ink manuscript: “Atlas du Mexique/ par M.r A. de Humboltz”.
Re-backed, with remains of a paper label at the head. One of the ties perished, and two quite short. Some scuffs and wear. Tissue-guards present and generally creased; that to pl. 19 foxed. An old filled loss to the fore-corner of the first leaf of pl. 15, not affecting the image. Remarkably clean, with some fraying and occasional oxidization to the deckled edges. Bookplate with a monogram (“PAADV”?[1]) and a rectangular field that has been inked out (but reading “De la bibliothèque de Monsieur du Crêst de Villeneuve, Secrétaire général de l’Administration des Droits réunis”) to the rear paste-down
Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) dominated the natural sciences for the first six decades of the XIXc. There was hardly a scientist, explorer, or natural philosopher who did not write correspond with the great man, or at least acknowledge their debt to his work. Humboldt distinguished himself from his Enlightenment forebears by striking out, just shy of his thirtieth birthday, for a five-year sojourn in the Americas — with the blessing of King Charles IV of Spain but his own financing — with the botanist Aimé Bonpland, who also served as the expedition’s physician.
The result of his voyage, which took him through modern Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and up through Central America and then home via Cuba, Washington and Philadelphia, was a revolution in the understanding of the various Spanish territories in the New World along several axes. The merging of various branches of natural science — meteorology, cartography, biology, ecology, botany, anthropology — with traditional historical accounts into a single vast analysis of a place is a hallmark of the so-called “Humboldtian” school that dominated scientific publication with rigorous figures, graphs, maps and so forth. Each part enhanced the veracity and usefulness of every other part.
Humboldt published the Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne in a luxurious quarto format, accompanied by a folio atlas — the present item being the second and final instalment of that atlas — between 1808–1812. The group of plates (12–20, plus the letterpress preliminaries) in the present portfolio, never bound, includes the first complete cross-sectional profile of any country (pll. 12–13), a world map with an assessment of the metallic wealth (gold and silver) extracted from Central and South America (pl. 19) and a distinctly Humboldtian presentation of the relative population sizes of the various parts of New Spain as a series of nesting squares (pl. 20).
The portfolio bears the bookplate of Émile-René Ducrest (du Crest/ du Crêst) de Villeneuve, who was secretary-general of the “Administration des Droits réunis,” a tax authority created under Napoleon in 1804.[2] Ducrest de Villeneuve’s wife, niece of Madame de Genlis, was in the circle of Empress Josephine. The Administration was a major tool for modernizing French state finance in the post-monarchic era, and the origin of the financial branch of the French civil service. It was responsible for regulating the movement of tobacco, alcohol, bullion and — particularly relevant to the present item — maps. This final livraison (9 of the 20 mapsheets) may well have been all that Ducrest de Villeneuve received.
Mapsheets
12. Tableau physique de la pente Orientale du Plateau de la Nouvelle Espagne, (Chemin de Mexico a Veracruz par Puebla et Xalapa.) Dresse d’apres des mesures Barometriques et Trigonometriques, prises en 1804 par Mr. de Humboldt. Dessine par A. de Humboldt, a Veracruz 1804. Termine par Wittich et Friesen 1807. Grave par Bouquet. Les Echelles et l’Ecriture gravees par Aubert. Image area, including title and scales below: 370mm x 827mm. A cross-section profile of Mexico from Mexico City to Veracruz.
13. Tableau physique de la pente Occidental du Plateau de la Nouvelle Espagne (Chemin de Mexico a Acapulco) Dresse d’apres des mesures Barometriques prises en 1803 par Mr. de Humboldt. Dessine par Wittich d’apres une esquise de Mr. Humboldt 1807. Grave par Bouquet. Les Echelles et l’Ecriture gravees par L. Aubert. Image area, including title and scales below: 365mm x 792mm. A cross-section profile of Mexico Acapulco to Mexico City. With pl. 12, the first complete profile of a country.
14. Tableau du Plateau central des Montagnes du Mexique, entre les 19 et 21 de Latitude boreale, (Chemin de Mexico a Guanaxuato) Dresse d’apres le Nivellement Barometrique de Mr. de Humboldt. Esquise par Alex. de Humboldt a Mexico 1803. Dessine par Raphael Davalos a Mexico 1804 (termine a Berlin 1807.) Grave par Bouquet. Les Echelles et l’Ecriture gravees par L Aubert. Image area, including title and scales below: 360mm x 815mm. A cross-ssection profile of the central plateau, from Mexico City to Guanajuato.
15. Profil du Canal de Huehuetoca (Desague Real.) Creuse pour preserver la Ville de Mexico du danger des Inondations. Redige d’apres les dessins de Don Ignacio Castera et Don Luis Martin par F. Friesen 1808. Grave par Bouquet-et l’Ecriture gravee par L. Aubert pere. Image area, including title and scales below: 350mm x 523mm. A profile and cross-section depicting Huehuetoca Canal and the drainage system of the Valley of Mexico.
16. Volcans de la Puebla, vus depuis la Ville de Mexico, de l’Imprimerie de Langlois. Fr. Gmelin perf. Romae 1805. Lud. Martin ad nat. del. 1803. Fr. Arnold sc. Berol. 1807. Image area, including title: 110mm x 262mm. A view of volcanoes taken from Mexico City.
17. Pic d’Orizaba vu depuis la Foret de Xalapa. De l’Imprimerie de Langlois. Fr. Gmelin perf. Romae 1805. A. de Humboldt ad nat. prim. del. 1804. Fr. Arnold sc. Berol. 1807. Image area, including title: 159mm x 178mm. A view of Orizaba.
18. Plan du Port d’Acapulco. Dresse par les Officiers de la Marine Royale de S.M.C. embarques sur les Corvettes la Descubierta et l’Atrevida l’annee 1791. Grave par Barriere. Dessine a Madrid au Depot Hydrographique. L’Ecriture par L. Aubert. To the neat line: 172mm x 185mm. Plan of the port of Acapulco including depth soundings.
19. Carte des diverses Routes par lesquelles les richesses metalliques refluent d’un Continent a l’autre. Dessine par J.B. Poirson d’apres une exquisse de Mr de Humboldt. Grave par L. Aubert. Image area, including the world map, four charts, and titles: 485mm x 322mm. World map showing trade routes and four charts detailing the amount and value of gold taken from the mines of Mexico and South America.
20. I. Tableau comparatif de l’etendue territoriale des Intendances de la Nouvelle-Espagne. II. Etendue territoriale et Population des Metropoles et des Colonies en 1804. Image area, including titles: 51.2 x 33.5 cm. Two charts showing the relative size of the Mexican territories and population figures in the colonies as of 1804.
Hill 843; Howes H 786; Sabin 33756; Wheat, Transmississippi 302-305.
[1] Cf. the reading of Archives de la Société Française des collectionneurs d’ex-libris (vol. 11, 1904), p. 142.
[2] This per the Institut de France; his wife was the niece of Madame de Genlis. It is difficult to reconcile the letters of the monogram with this individual.
Item #JLR0820
Price: $18,000