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Vandermaelen Atlas Universel

6 Items

Vandermaelen Atlas

Atlas universel de géographie physique, politique, statistique et minéralogique : sur l'échelle de 1/1641836 ou d'une ligne par 1900 toises, created and published by Philippe Marie Guillaume Vandermaelen, is believed to be the first world atlas on a uniform scale. The creation of this atlas has been described as “one of the most remarkable developments of private enterprise in cartography.” (Koeman, 1969) All of the maps, regardless of the area shown, are at the same scale and on the same conic projection. If assembled as a single unit, they would create a globe with a nearly 8-meter diameter. The sheets were published and distributed in installments between 1825 and 1827. The atlas is composed of 6 volumes, containing approximately 390 maps and 40 pages of statistical tables. Some of the maps include text. Because all of the maps are at the same scale, areas of the world less well known by Europeans, such as Africa and western North America, are mapped at the same level of detail as Europe, making these maps some of the earliest and most detailed maps of otherwise unknown areas.

Please contact the Map Library regarding this atlas via e-mail at charts@library.illinois.edu or by calling 217-333-0827.