Carte Particuliere des Costes de l'Afrique qui comprend une Partie de la Guinee et Partie de Mina &c.

Sumptuous example of Pierre Mortier's sea chart of West Africa, specifically the coast of the Gulf of Guinea from Conakry, Guinea to Cape Coast, Ghana. The map includes parts of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), and Ghana. Very little information is provided beyond the locations of river mouths and headlands. Only two European settlements are marked, the Dutch Fort Nassau in Ghana and a Portuguese village ('aldeya) in Côte d'Ivoire. The map is embellished with rhumb lines and two beautiful compass roses.



As with the other charts of the coast of Africa in the "Neptune Francois", the source cartography is taken from original Portuguese charts. These in turn were copied by the French diplomat N.P. Ablancourt who made them available to Charles Pene and Pierre Mortier. These were then commercially issued in the "Suite the Neptune", Volume III of the whole work which focused on coasts outside of northwest Europe.



The "Neptune Francois" was first issued simultaneously in Paris and Amsterdam by Hubert Jaillot and Pierre Mortier respectively in 1693. The project was highly successful and Mortier developed the Atlas by adding two more sections or volumes to it. The first, Vol II was also issued in 1693 and consisted of a set of charts provided by the noted Dutch artist Romeyn de Hooghe. Collectively these are known as the "Cartes Marines a l'Usage des Armees du Roy de Grande Bretagne" and were originally drawn for William III of Great Britain. De Hooghe was primarily an artist and his charts bear a distinctive pictorial aspect. They have become renowned for their aesthetics, being cited as the most beautiful set of charts ever published. Volume III added in 1700, entitled "Suite de Neptune" concentrated on charts outside of French territory, including maps of the New World, the West Indies, South East Asia and the Indian Ocean among others.



Mortier's edition was a prestige work. Later scholars have found that his book was the most expensive sea atlas produced in Amsterdam up to that time. On the rare occasions that an example of one of the maps in full original colour can be obtained, it is easily perceived why this work is cited as one of the finest and most spectacular atlases ever produced.



Magnificent original hand-colour. [AFR6087] [BC]

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Francois.