Jean Baptiste Pierre Tardieu (1746-1816) was a prominent French cartographer and engraver operating in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Tardieu’s work is known for its beauty and accuracy as well as for its depth of detail. The maps are particularly highly valued for the decoration that surrounds the area of the title known as the cartouche. The prime meridian is shown to be Paris. This map was included in Conrad Malte-Brun’s
Atlas Complete du Precis de la Geographie Universelle
, published in Paris in 1812. The lower right corner of the map contains an engraved depiction of the wall of a walled city with Moorish influence.

9 7/8 x 13 1/2 inches, sheet.
Engraving with modern hand color beautifully applied.
The sheet has a lovely light patina not evident in the photo.
Excellent condition

Anthony Finley (ca. 1790–1840) was a successful Philadelphia mapmaker and publisher. This map was included in his
New General Atlas…
, published in 1824 when Finley’s offices were at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets. As Walter Rostow states in his reference
American Maps & Mapmakers…
(pp. 268-9) the ”engraving is done almost uniformly with remarkable distinctness and the face of the maps is frequently beautiful, not overloaded with a confusion of useless names.” Indeed these maps are beautiful. Indeed, the maps from this atlas are beautiful examples of the American mapmaking during the first quarter of the 19th century.
Hand-colored engraving.
10 1/4 x 13 inches, sheet.
Very nice condition with light browning of extremes of margins.

18 x 21 1/2 inches, sheet.  Copperplate engraving with remarkably well preserved original coloring. Excellent condition. French text on reverse.

This superb original eighteenth century map of the southern coast of Spain focuses on the important fortifications protecting the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. The map covers the region extending from the mouth of the Rio Guadalquivir in the west to Motril in the east. It includes schematic representations of the relative sizes of the larger towns and the direction of their settlement. The maps includes insets of  the Spanish fortress of Ceuta on the Moroccan Peninsula de Almina, two small inset maps of Minorca and Ceuta, and three views featuring Cadiz, the Gibraltar fortress,  the port of Malaga. The title is surrounded by elaborate engraving of military items including a canon.
Hand colored engraving.
Crisp strong impression and original color.
Framed to 27 ½ x 30 ¾ inches,