PLAN de l’ile de DELOS

Lovely map of the sacred Greek island of Delos. The mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, this island is a vast archaeological site as Choiseul-Gouffier’s map shows: at the heart of the island are the ‘RUINES DE LA VILLE DE DELOS’ with all the various temples and buildings marked. Decorative title cartouche in top left corner showing a serpent with an arrow through it, a quiver of arrows and bow and a lyre. Scale in bottom right corner with compass above it. In 1776 Choiseul-Gouffier and the artist J.B. Hilaire joined a cartographic survey of the Mediterranean. Volume I of Voyage Pittoresque, his account of their tour of the Greek islands, the coast of Asia Minor, and of his travels on the mainland, was immediately acclaimed on publication in 1778. According to Brunet, it was incontestably the most beautiful production of this kind seen until then. Choiseul-Gouffier's work offered for the first time, illustrations of remote places that complemented the scrupulously researched narrative.

Fine condition with good wide margins.