Apres de Mannevillette (1707-1780) was the son of a French sea-captain, in the service of the French West India Company; he was one of the first great French chart-publishers. From about 1735 he immersed himself in the chart of the route round India to the East Indies, collecting charts and other material about the navigation of the route and travelling extensively to build up his own experience.
In 1745, he published the First Edition of his pilot-book, ‘Le Neptune Oriental ou Routier General des Cotes des Indes Orientales et de la Chine …’; a second edition, and greatly expanded, followed in 1775, with sixty-three sheets (including two sheets of profiles), and then a ‘Supplement au Neptune Oriental …’ published in 1781. This copy, which is in good condition, has the charts interleaved with d’Apres de Mannevillette’s textual description of the passage to the Far East.
This copy shows some updating after binding; eight of the charts (plate numbers: 5, 24, [25], [28], 41, 42, 48 and 49) have engraved paste-overs, one of corrective text, the others updating and correcting the chart itself.
National Maritime Museum, Atlases, 204.
