Historic Map : Vaugondy Antique Map of France w/Postal Routes, 1758, Vintage Wall Art

This is a fine 1758 map of France by Robert de Vaugondy. It covers the entirety of France from the English Channel to Spain. The map renders the entire region in extraordinary detail offering both topographical and political information. Various postal routes are noted throughout including towns and cities along the routes.

Historically, France at this time was under the reign of Louis in xVI, the last Ancien Regime French King before the French Revolution. Louis in xVI was probably not the worse king France ever had, but he was definitely in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the years just prior to the 1889 French Revolution, France had entered a period of sustained economic decline. French involvement in the American Revolutionary War and the Seven Years War strained the national treasury and put increased pressure on the peasantry. This was compounded by several years of poor harvest brought on by erratic weather patterns associated with el Nino and the 1783 eruptions of the Icelandic Laki and Grimsvotn volcanoes. The Royal court at Versailles, isolated and seemingly indifferent to the hardships of the lower classes, proved an easy target. Events came to a head on July 14th, 1789, when angry insurgents stormed the Bastille prison, giving birth to the bloody French Revolution and effectively ending the French monarchy.

The map includes a beautifully engraved title cartouche in the top left quadrant. This map was drawn by Robert de Vaugondy and published in the 1757 issue of his Atlas Universal.