A Map of China, drawn from those of the particular provinces made on the spot by the Jesuit missionaries.

1738 Emanuel Bowen Map of China and Korea

Publication Date: 1738

About this Item

Very good. Margin reinstated at insertion point. Else excellent. Size 18.25 x 22 Inches. This is Emanuel Bowen's rare 1738 map of China and Korea, derived from the geography of Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville. It is not a direct copy of D'Anville's maps but rather is a distillation of Chinese provincial maps included in Du Halde's 1737 Nouvel atlas de la Chine , which Bowen reproduced in the 1738 English edition of that work. Via D'Anville, this is one of the best 18th-century maps of China originating from Chinese sources. Roots in the Kanxi Atlas D'Anville's maps were themselves extremely faithful copies of the maps found in the 'Jesuit Atlas' or the 'Kangxi Atlas,' produced between 1708 and 1718 on behalf of the Qing Emperor with the assistance of French Jesuits. The atlas, Huangyu Quanlan Tu / ????? [Overview Maps of the Imperial Territories], was never available for public sale but had been produced in three printed editions in China for official consultation. It is supposed that French Jesuit Pierre Jartoux (1669 - 1720) managed to secret a copy to Paris, where it was given to Du Halde for 1735 publication in France. It contained a general map of China and Korea, a general map of China alone, thirty-nine regional maps of Chinese provinces, and a further map showing Bering's explorations of the Asian north. In short order, an English edition was published by Edward Cave in 1738, its maps engraved by Emanuel Bowen. While the provincial maps are close copies of D'Anville's, the general maps produced by Bowen did not duplicate those of the French edition. In terms of their projection and their scope, they are unique works. Cave's translation of Du Halde was produced in a single edition, with the result that its maps - particularly this one - are rare. A Closer Look Bowen's map covers the Qing Empire and Joseon Korea, from Hainan Island in the south to the Gobi Desert in the north. The western limits reach Burma (Pegu) and the modern Bayingolin Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. To the east, Taiwan is shown with an undefined east coast. The map's eastern limit includes parts of the Sea of Japan and what is now part of the Russian Federation. Japan is not included. Bowen's work includes considerably more detail than the D'Anville general maps, drawing heavily on the provincial maps. The strictures of scale prevent the inclusion of many placenames, particularly in the Korean peninsula, where numerous towns are marked but unnamed. The difficulty of including legible placenames is somewhat ameliorated by the inclusion of fifteen tables providing the 'Principal Latitudes observed and Longitudes determined geometrically whereon this Map is grounded'. The map includes explanations of the conventions of English orthography used in the transliterations of Chinese names. A brief description of the Chinese/Jesuit efforts in surveying the country is also included. Publication History and Census This map was composed and engraved by Emanuel Bowen in 1737 for inclusion in Edward Cave's 1738 A Description of the Empire of China . There is one recorded state of the map, the book having been published in a single edition. We are aware of a single institutional copy of the separate map in the collection of the National Library of Australia, and the map is scarce on the market. References: OCLC 965614664.

Seller Inventory # ChinaKorea-bowenanville-1738

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Map of China, drawn from those of the particular provinces made on the spot by the Jesuit missionaries.
• Publication Date: 1738
• Seller catalogs:
  • JAPAN-CHINA-KOREA