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1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE
1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE
1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE
1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE
1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE
1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE
1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE
1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE

1683 AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, UNDER LOUIS XIV, FROM HIS NOW RARE PUBLICATION OF “DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE” (Description de l’Univers) ANGLOIS, ENGLISH COUPLE

We only have 2 of these prints left from the volume "description of the Universe" from 1683, by Mallet , both seen on photo 4.

THIS SALE IS FOR 1 OF THEM, THE AUTHENTIC ORIGINAL ANTIQUE HAND COLORED COPPERPLATE ENGRAVING BY ALLAIN MANESSON MALLET, OF ENGLISH PEOPLE (ANGLOIS) SEEN ON 8 OF THE PHOTOS.

This image of a man and woman in full costume of the era comes from the encyclopedic Description de l’Univers written & illustrated by the French engineer and cartographer Alain Manesson Mallet.

Each print measures approximately 7 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, created on old-style chain lined paper that is toned with occasional spotting. They were later beautifully hand coloured by professional colourists
These prints are around 340 years old. Page blank in back.

By the middle of the sixteenth century, British and French diplomatic and trade missions sought contacts with realms of the East, among them Safavid kingdom of Iran. Some European states, like Britain and France, had common economic interests with Iran, on the basis of growing worldwide trade. Others, like the Habsburgs of Austria and the Holy Roman Empire, had common political interests, on the basis of shared enmity with the Ottomans. Interests of these kinds promoted realistic views of Persians and other Middle Easterners, views that might portray them as exotic, but without contempt, even with envy, treating them as citizens of a world of work, trade, war, arts, and letters that was shared with Europe.

Alain Mannesson Mallet (1630-1706) was a French mapmaker and engineer who served in the armies of Louis XIV. After rising through the ranks, Mallet was appointed as Inspector of Fortifications, a job which also required mathematical skills and which made him a competent military engineer. Eventually, he joined the court of Louis XIV at Versailles, where he taught math and focused on writing.

Mallet is best known for his Description de L’Univers (a famous work on the history, geography, peoples and animals of the world), first published in 1683, in five volumes. A wide-ranging geographical work, the Description included textual descriptions of the countries of the world, as well as maps of the celestial sky and the ancient and modern worlds. The Description continued to be published until the early eighteenth century. He also published a work in three volumes on warfare (1684) and a primer on geometry (1702).

lain Manesson Mallet published Description de L’Univers to be a comprehensive atlas not only for the earth, but the universe beyond. It is a snapshot of the scientific knowledge of the cosmos from centuries ago. It describes a time when Copernicus’ & Tycho’s views on the universe as the center of the world still held sway, so there are charming portrayals of the earth ringed by the planets, sun, moon & firmaments.