A fine detailed sea chart of the Channel Islands published in the Depot de la Marine’s ‘Neptune Francois’. The mapmaker was Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772), 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. Pastoureau, M. Neptune Francais C.17.