Catalog Archive
Auction 191, Lot 67

"[8 Puzzle Maps] Atlas"

Subject: Cartographic Miscellany, Puzzle

Period: 1835 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
16.1 x 12.6 inches
40.9 x 32 cm
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This complete puzzle set contains 8 maps - a double-hemisphere world map, North America, South America, Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, and France. It was published by Jean Vincent Marie Dopter in Paris. Dopter (1807-1859) established his reputation as a printer and lithographer in the 1830s with controversial religious and political pamphlets and award-winning dissected maps. The maps measure 15.1 x 11.3" when assembled and are separated by blue cardboard dividers. Each puzzle piece is mounted on thin balsa wood with original blue paper on verso and green paper wrapped along the edges. The maps neatly fit into the original wooden box with stiff paper at top and bottom and a decorative printed top cover. The date is based on the map of North America, which features a date in the 1830s, with the last digit obscured by the edge of the piece.

A. Mappe-Monde en Deux Hemispheres. The map includes traces of Antarctica's coastline.
B. Carte de l'Amerique Septentrionale, avec les Regions Polaires. Texas appears in a squat configuration with its own borders but is still shown as part of Mexico, along with California and the rest of the Southwest.
C. Amerique Meridionale.
D. Carte Generale de l'Afrique.
E. Carte d'Asie.
F. Oceanie ou Cinquieme Partie du Monde.
G. Carte d'Europe.
H. France, Divisee en Departemens.

References:

Condition:

The puzzles range from B+ to B condition, with light soiling and small stains, paper lifting from a few pieces, and a few broken pieces. Paper has been completely stripped from a couple pieces along the top border of the Africa puzzle. The France, Oceania, and Europe puzzles each include small pieces of custom-cut balsa wood to replace missing pieces; the largest of these pieces appears in the vicinity of the Caspian Sea on the Europe map. The box is still sturdy and intact, with soiling and a few small dampstains on its paper cover and scuffs and chipping along the edges.

Estimate: $700 - $850

Sold for: $550

Closed on 2/8/2023

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