This fine hand coloured original antique World map on Mercators Projection showing the tracks of the French explorer Viscount Pierre Marie Francois de Pages by Robert Benard was engraved in 1782 by JBL Aubert - the date is engraved in the titile - and was published in Le Pages book  Voyage autour du monde et vers les deux poles, par terra et par mar, pendant les annees 1767 a 1776.

Pages, Pierre Marie Francois, Viscount de, French explorer, born in Toulouse in 1748; died in Santo Domingo in 1793. He entered the navy as midshipman in 1764, was promoted to 2nd lieutenant, and in 1767 lead an expedition to search for the northwest passage by the eastern coast of Asia. He sailed from Cape Francais, in Santo Domingo, on 30 June, 1767, and, although he was unsuccessful in his object, he explored Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, and the East Indies, returning to Marseilles, 5 September, 1771.
After some difficulties he was reinstated in the navy on 9 March, 1772. During the following year he took part in the expedition of Kerguelen to the South sea.
In 1776 he engaged passage on a whaler and visited Spitzbergen and the coast of Greenland, being the first navigator to reach 80º 30' north latitude. After being imprisoned twice by ice-fields he reached Amsterdam on 15 August, 1777. The fatigues and hardships that he experienced during the journey having impaired his health, he retired from the navy in 1782 and, going to Santo Domingo, settled upon an estate that belonged to his wife, a creole.
His last years were devoted to scientific researches, and he had in preparation several important works on America when he died in 1793 among the first victims of the negro insurgents.
  Pages was a member of many learned societies, and in 1782 was created a knight of St. Louis. He published " Observations sur l'histoire naturelle, la temperature, les mceurs, l'industrie et les habitants du royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne" (2 vols., Paris, 1772); "Memoire sur l'anomalie de la constitution atmospherique des deux poles" (1775); " Voyage autour du monde et vers les deux poles, par terra et par mar, pendant les annees 1767 a 1776" (2 vols., 1782; translated into Dutch, Rotterdam, 1784" German, Leipsie, 1786; Swedish, Upsala, 1788" and English, London, 1791, and Boston, 1793) ; and "Reflexions sur les vents d'est qui regnent entre les tropiques, sur les pluies et le ciel serein darts ce paralldle etles circonvoisins" (Ref: M&B; Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Heavy & stable
Paper color: - White
Age of map color: - Early
Colors used: - Blue, brown 
General color appearance: - Authentic 
Paper size: - 14 3/4in x 12 1/2in (375mm x 315mm)
Paper size: - 14in x 11 1/2in (355mm x 295mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

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