ARGENTRÉ (Bertrand d'). Description of the... - Lot 17 - Nouvelle Etude

ARGENTRÉ (Bertrand d'). Description of the Country Armorique to Present Bretaigne. Paris, 1582. Copy uniformly browned, washed and glued. Wide cracks and tears restored. Later coloured rib and border. 345 x 478 mm. The map known as "D'ARGENTRE" is the OLDEST CARD OF BRITAIN KNOWN. It could have originated with the cartographers of Le Conquet, then was taken over with numerous modifications by Gabriel Tavernier, engraver in the service of Maurice Bouguereau, who remade a complete engraving before inserting it in his "Théâtre François". Although announced in the first editions of d'Argentré's Histoire de Bretagne, it is found only in rare copies, perhaps it was extracted from it or perhaps it was sold as a supplement? This map is recognizable by its title inscribed at the top inside the frame of the map without author's signature. Extremely rare, it appears in only a few collections. The 1582 edition of the History of Brittany was banned and distributed in 1588, at the same time as the second edition: "There had been a first edition in Rennes in 1582. in-folio, of which only the title and the table remained to be printed, when it was seized by order of King Henry III under the pretext that there were several things in the work against the honor and rights of France. - C. Gaudillat, Ancient maps of Brittany 1582-1800, N°1.