The first state of a magnificent chart in full early wash colour of the Atlantic coast of France from the mouth of the Loire River to the Gironde River. It is centred on the cities of La Rochelle and Rochefort. Estimates of up to 10,000 Huguenots had fled La Rochelle during the 1680s for England. Two very ornate cartouche house views of Port de Marans, Isle D’Oleron, and La Rochelle. A dedication to Willem Fabritius of Haarlem is upper right with his coat of arms above. Legends on the map provide navigational guidance along with the pre-requisite anchorage points and depth soundings. The chart is adorned with several ships, and it is engraved by the highly skilled artist Romain de Hooghe (1645-1708).

‘In 1692 Pierre Mortier had published a Dutch contrefaçon of the ‘Atlas Nouveau’ by Alexis-Hubert Jaillot. It was issued in partnership with Pierre Huguetan, a French bookseller resident in Amsterdam, who provided considerable financial backing. Their next project was an edition of L’Imprimerie Royale’s ‘Neptune François’, first published in 1693. For this Mortier employed the finest engravers and extended the work with the magnificent ‘Cartes Marines à l’usage du Roy de la Grande Bretagne’. It contained only nine charts of which this is the second. They are engraved by Romain de Hooghe, who was in the employ of William III at the time, and are arguably the most stunning sea charts produced to date.’ (Burden). The work is considered the most expensive maritime atlas ever published in Holland. Its maps are larger and more luxuriously decorated than those of any previously published work. Koeman stated that they were ‘the most spectacular type of maritime cartography ever produced.’. ‘Few great artists have turned their hands to mapmaking … Romeyn de Hooghe was an exception to the pattern. A celebrated artist from the late seventeenth century, he was responsible for a volume of nine sea charts.’ (Campbell). Provenance: private Jersey collection. Burden (2007) p. 486; Egmond (2009); Koeman (1967-70) IV Mor 5 E no. 6.