EUROPEAN CONTINENT 1852 LEVASSEUR ANTIQUE ORIGINAL COLORED LITHOGRAPHIC MAP

Europe.

Description: Striking and highly detailed fine unusual original 1852 Victor Levasseur's original colored lithographic map of the European Continent. Covers also Turkey, Middle East, a part of North America and northern part of North Africa. Notes cities, rivers, lakes, reliefs, bays and islands.Shows the Armorial crests of France, England, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Russia, Prussia, Germany, Sweden and Turkey. There is a short text history of the region depicted on both left and right sides of the map.

By far this map's most striking feature is its elaborate allegorical border work. Levasseur composed this map for publication in his magnificent "Atlas Nationale de la France Illustrée", one of the most decorative and beautifully produced atlases to appear in the 19th century.
 
Published by V. Levasseur in the 1852 edition of his Atlas National de la France Illustrée.

Date: 1852 ( undated ) 

Dimension: Paper size approx.: cm 53,2 x 36,1

Condition: Very strong and dark impression on good paper. Map old original colored. Wide margins. Small foxing. Conditions are as you can see in the images.

Mapmaker: Victor Levasseur (1800 - 1870), an important French engineer, cartographer, and engraver of the mid 19th century, held a number of important cartographically related political and educations posts in France. He is most famous for his Atlas National Illustré des 86 Départements et des Possessions de La France, a large decorative atlas of France, including his Planisphere and five important continental maps. Levasseur's maps are distinctive for their wide decorative margins containing elaborate depictions of the scenery, peoples, and trade goods of the areas he mapped. Levasseur maps are also known to offer a wealth of statistical data. Until recently, very few Levasseur Atlases migrated out of France where they were mostly used in public libraries and town halls. His work represents some of the last great decorative atlases of the 19th century.