Nouvel Atlas des Enfans et des Commerçans…
Nouvel Atlas des Enfans et des Commerçans, ou les premiers élémens de la Géographie…

Paris: Chez Saintin, 1811.

Octavo, two hand-coloured plates and seven hand-coloured maps (four double-page, three folding), a handsome copy.

Children's atlas

A charming children's atlas, with delightful depictions of Tahiti, New Zealand and Hawaii. Although much reprinted and very popular, this work is now rare in any edition. Two exquisite plates, each with twelve small vignettes, detail the peoples of the world. The first three main panels show images of European, Asian, and African scenes, while the fourth has 'American' images; there are not only charming images of Iroquois, Californians, and Peruvians, but surprisingly the three final scenes show New Zealanders, Tahitians and inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands (here accidentally called "Americans", almost a century before their formal annexation). Each of the vignettes is also vouchsafed a very brief note, with some unusual commentary: we learn that the New Zealanders love their children, that the lower-caste Hawaiians prostrate themselves on the ground before royalty, and that the only quadrupeds in Tahiti are dogs, cats, and rats.

A charming children's atlas, with delightful depictions of Tahiti, New Zealand and Hawaii. Although much reprinted and very popular, this work is now rare in any edition. Two exquisite plates, each with twelve small vignettes, detail the peoples of the world. The first three main panels show images of European, Asian, and African scenes, while the fourth has 'American' images; there are not only charming images of Iroquois, Californians, and Peruvians, but surprisingly the three final scenes show New Zealanders, Tahitians and inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands (here accidentally called "Americans", almost a century before their formal annexation). Each of the vignettes is also vouchsafed a very brief note, with some unusual commentary: we learn that the New Zealanders love their children, that the lower-caste Hawaiians prostrate themselves on the ground before royalty, and that the only quadrupeds in Tahiti are dogs, cats, and rats.

The series of maps is equally interesting, with good depictions of France, Europe, Africa and the Americas. There is also a large double-hemisphere map of the globe by Blondeau: New Holland is shown still attached to Van Diemens Land, and the Pacific Islands are represented in some detail, showing the Society Islands, the Marquesas, and the Friendly Isles. The Sandwich Islands are also clearly marked, with the familiar caption that 'here Captain Cook was killed'.

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Saintin was a publisher of popular editions of authors such as Moliere and Homer, and issued several such works of geographical instruction.

Gumuchian, 5087 (1810 edition); not in Forbes.

Condition Report: Some loss to a few pages (seemingly original defects in the paper, and not affecting text); half calf, a little rubbed, bumped at corners,

Ref: #3702899

Condition Report