Földvári Books

Fauvel’s Own Copies of Early Maps of the Seychelles Island

[Fauvel, Albert-Auguste]

[Seychelles] Author’s Notes and 38 Copies of Maps Related to His Book “Unpublished Documents on the History of the Seychelles Islands Anterior to 1810”.

[Mahe?]: [before 1909]. Autograph notes in a vintage folder. Notes in colored pencil and ink on 16 different-sized leaves. 37 manuscript copies of maps on tracing paper, in different sizes, many colored, and one printed map, augmented with several toponyms in pencil and ink. Drawn on different quality tracing papers, of which one is very fragile, some dented or torn, with no significant loss. Some text leaves are chipped. Some maps are folded, generally in fine, very good condition. Overall in very good condition.

An important collection of the author’s carto-bibliographic notes and maps related to the first monograph of the Seychelles Islands.

Albert-Auguste Fauvel (1851–1909), was a French explorer and naturalist, and the author of the first monograph of the Seychelles Islands, Unpublished Documents on the History of the Seychelles Islands Anterior to 1810 (Mahé, 1909). This compilation of early documents is considered an important source for the study of the early history of the Seychelles, the volume contains a collection of documents related to the French colonial period between 1742 and 1810, and includes a listing of early maps of the Seychelles, of which 38 had been reproduced and published in a separate portfolio.

The present folder comprises of sixteen leaves of Fauvel’s autograph notes related to the chapter “Cartogarphie [des Seychelles]” (pp. 1–27), with lists and additional details on the history and publication of the Seychelles-maps. Besides, it contains thirty-seven copies of maps and manuscript charts (roughly identical to the printed version) from the period of early the 16th until the late 18th century, and a printed copy of the map “The Bay of Curieuse, Seychelles Islands, by Lieut. R. Nash” (1825), with autograph additions of toponyms, which is also included in the publication.

Price: €10,500.00