A rare cased atlas of eight large folding maps of the world

Paris : Chez J. Goujon et J. Andriveau, 1827. A large book-form box made of stiff card, 250 mm tall, gilt-decorated papered sides, silk draw ribbon, the ‘spine’ made of crushed morocco styled in compartments, with gilt ornamentation and the lettering ‘Atlas par H. Brué’, with a list of the eight maps contained within: ‘Mappemonde; Europe; Asie; Afrique; Amérique Septentrionale; Amérique Méridionale; Océanie; France’. Each engraved map measures 650 x 970 mm and is hand-coloured, dissected into 21 panels and laid on linen with paper title labels and tabs lettered in manuscript. The maps are dated 1827, and were assembled as a cased collection around that date.

A spectacular French cased atlas of the six known continents, the world and France, presented in a bespoke case of refined proportions designed to sit alongside other richly bound volumes in a nobleman’s library.

Such artefacts are rare, however in 2016 we handled another example of a Brué cased atlas, the dimensions about one third larger and the maps dating from 1814-1819.