Carte chorographique des Pays-Bas Autrichiens dédiée à leurs Majestés Impériales et Royales [...] gravée par L.A. Dupuis [...] en 1777.

Large folio: 25 engr., 60 x 47 cm, 59 x 63,5 cm and 60 x 94 cm, hinge-mounted, border colouring (fine copy, minor defects, some foxing).

Contemp. half calf, gilt spine, paper covers, sprinkled edges (hinges broken, corners bumped, scratches, sl. used).

Coloured copy of the "Carte marchande", the commercial edition on a reduced scale of the Cabinet map of the Austrian Netherlands. Based upon the detailed topographical survey executed by artillerists between 1771 and 1777, the manuscript Cabinet map covers most of the current territory of Belgium. The printed "Carte marchande" was thus extensively used by the national mapping agency in the next decades.
The presentation of the large scaled Cabinet map to Emperor Joseph II on December 10, 1777 is the subject of pl. 16, drawn by Eisen and engraved by Patas. Our volume comprises, after this pl. and in the following order, the map of Brussels (pl. 21), the general map (pl. 22), an explicative table (pl. 1), detailed geographical maps of Bruges, Antwerp, Roermond, Gueldre, Ypres, Ghent, Brussels, Maastricht and Juliers, the finely printed second state of the title (pl. 11) after C.N. Cochin Fils and engraved by M.A. Stagnon, the maps of Mons, Namur, Liège, Cronenbourg, Bavay, Chimay, Bastogne, Bitbourg, the "tableau d'assemblage" (pl. 23), and finally the maps of Sedan, Arlon and Luxembourg. Furthermore, our copy has a few special features: A manuscript note explaining the use of colours to define the borders of France, Germany and the Dutch Republic, added before pl. 1, indicates that our copy was bound before 1795, and makes it an outstanding source on the Austrian border changes and the ongoing discussions at the end of the 18th c., as also emphasised on pl. 1 (3rd st.). Also remarkable is pl. 22 showing the features of an intermediate state, between the 2nd and 3rd states described by Lemoine ("ouset" as in the 2nd state, but also "Gravée par L.A. Dupuis Géographe de son Altesse Royale Mgr le D.C.A. de Lorraine" from the 3rd state). The rich amount of information makes it an excellent source for the topography and history of the country (relief, hydrography, transport, parishes, border issues, vegetation, agriculture, industries etc.).
Ref. Lemoine-Isabeau.- Les militaires et la cartographie des Pays-Bas méridionaux (Brussels, 1984), pp. 207 sqq.