BELLIN (Jacques Nicolas).
Observations sur la carte du Golphe du Mexique, et des Isles de l'Amérique, dressée au Dêpot des Cartes, Plans & Journaux de la Marine, pour la service des vaisseaux du Roi, par ordre de M. Le Comte de Maurepas, en 1749.
The Frank S. Streeter copy
Bellin served as Royal Hydrographer and was the first person to hold the office of ‘Ingénieur Géographe de la Marine et du Depot des Cartes et Plans’. His treatise on Gulf navigation was notable for its dismissive treatment of Henry Popple’s map of North America. As in this case, the memoirs relating to Bellin’s maps were published separately. cf. Sabin 4556.
Worldcat locates eight holdings in North America (Harvard, Brown, Pittsburgh, Newberry, Florida, Yale, Virginia and the Minnesota Hist. Soc. Library) and only one in Europe (Bibliothèque national de France).
Frank S. Streeter (1918-2006) was a New York born investor, philanthropist and rare book collector. His remarkable collection focused on sea voyages during the age of discovery.
