A superb, large-scale detailed sea chart of Jersey in the Channel Islands by Jacques-Nicolas Bellin. Unlike most sea charts this contains significant topographical detail on the island. The water courses, roads, settlements, churches, and defensive positions are detailed. The boundaries of the Cantons are marked and each bears a number indicating the number of ‘dwellings or houses’ within. This detail is derived from the map of Clement Lempriere (1683-1746) published by W. H. Toms in 1755. He was born at St. Helier in Jersey, the son of Thomas Lempriere who prepared the map of the island in 1694 for Philip Falle’s ‘Account of the Isle of Jersey’. Traditional rhumb lines are found along with numerous depth soundings to aid safe navigation. Safe anchorages around the island are also identified. Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772) was one of the most important and prolific French cartographers of the mid-eighteenth century. The Dépôt des Cartes et Plans was founded in 1720 and the following year Bellin began working for them as the first ‘Ingenieur Hydrographe de la Marine’ and became Royal Hydrographer. With access to the latest navigational reports, he produced a great many maps and charts of excellent quality compiling atlases of sailing charts for military and official use as well as for commercial publication. This chart was published in the ‘L’Hydrographie Francoise’, a work constantly updated and issued through the second half of the eighteenth century. It is considered one of the rarest of his works. Below right is the official stamp of the ‘Depot de la Marine’ below which outside the neatline is the price ‘Prix dix huit Sols’. Provenance: private Jersey collection. ODNB; Rumsey no. 12059.035; Shirley (2004) M.Bell 2a no. 10; Worms & Baynton-Williams (2011).