1772 - "Carte Hydrographique De La Baye De Cadix Dressée Dépost des Cartes et Plans de la Marine Pour le Service des Vaisseaux du Roy. Par ordre de M. le Duc de Choiseul Colonel general des Suisses et Grisons, Ministre de la Guerre et de la Marine".

Large-format engraved chart of the Bay of Cadiz in southern Spain, prepared for the French Navy and Depot de la Marine by Jacques Nicolas Bellin. The chart has considerable terrestrial detail in addition to the bathymetric information. It also includes extensive remarks on entering Cadiz by water. Cadiz was the site of almost countless naval battles and engagements. In the year this chart was published, 1762, the British Royal Navy blockaded the port during the Anglo-Spanish War. Condition is outstanding.

Overall size approx 87cm x 63cm including the margins.

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was among the most important mapmakers of the eighteenth century. In 1721, at only the age of 18, he was appointed Hydrographer to the French Navy. In August 1741, he became the first Ingénieur de la Marine of the Dépôt des cartes et plans de la Marine (the French Hydrographic Office) and was named Official Hydrographer of the French King. During his term as Official Hydrographer, the Dépôt was the one of the most active centers for the production of sea charts and maps in Europe. Their output included a folio-format sea atlas of France, the Neptune Francois. He also produced a number of sea atlases of the world, including the Atlas Maritime and the Hydrographie Francaise. These gained fame and distinction all over Europe and were republished throughout the eighteenth and even in the nineteenth century. Bellin also produced smaller format maps such as the 1764 Petit Atlas Maritime, containing 580 finely-detailed charts. He also contributed a number of maps for the 15-volume Histoire Generale des Voyages of Antoine François Prévost. Bellin set a very high standard of workmanship and accuracy, cementing France's leading role in European cartography and geography during this period. Many of his maps were copied by other mapmakers across the continent.