Partie Septentrionale De La Souabe [and] Partie Meridionale De La Souabe de DE L'ISLE, Guillaume/ Covens & Mortier - 1742

Amsterdam: Cóvens & Mortier, 1742. Engraved with period outline colour. Collection stamp on verso. This attractive pair of maps of Swabia is from a Dutch edition of De L'Isle entitled, Atlas Nouveau, Contenant Toutes Les Parties Du Monde, Ou sont exactement Remarquées les Empires, Monarchies, Royaumes, Etats, Republiques &c. Par Guillaume de l'Isle. Premier Géographe de sa Majesté. It was published by Covens and Mortier, brothers-in-law who continued the firm established by Pierre Mortier. Guillaume de l'Isle (1675-1726) was son of a cartographer and a pupil of Jean Dominique Cassini, who among other important contributions, aligned the study of astronomy to the study of geography. Under Cassini's direction, observations were made from locations all over the world that enabled longitudinal calculations to be made with much greater accuracy. De l'Isle carried on this exacting work with remarkable dedication and integrity, constantly revising and improving his maps. While precision was his primary goal, his maps are invariably elegant and attractive. This pair of maps form at large, detailed view of Swabia, one of the ten circles of the Holy Roman Empire and containing some of the historically most interesting and culturally rich parts of Germany. The region includes towns prosperous and important in the Northern Renaissance : Nuremberg, Augsburg, Ulm, and others, the Necker and Danube Rivers and the Bodensee at the border with Switzerland. Koeman, C & M 7, #54 & #55.