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James Rennell and Philippe Bauche, Recueil de cartes géographiques, pour la description de l’Indostan (18th Century Maps of Hindoostan), Paris: Chez Poignée, An VIII [1799/1800]

40 pages, Atlas, alone, four large folding engraved maps, six engraved folding maps and one plan of various sizes. The four large folding engraved maps are forming the 'Carte de L'Indostan ou de L'Empire Mogol', the oulines are contemporary hand-coloured, most of them folded; new binding with marbled boards retaining the original spine
29 x 22.5 x 2.5 cm

The first French edition, which was revised by Jean Nicholas Buache and included the four maps comprising Rennell's "second great work. the construction of the first approximately correct map of India" (DNB).

"The Father of Indian Surveying" (Gole "Early Maps of India") following his exploration of the Indian Ocean and the waters surrounding Africa, Rennell proceeded to survey the interior of India. He recognized Europe's growing fascination with India: "As almost every particular relating to Hindoostan is become an object of popular curiosity, it can hardly be deemed superfluous to lay before the public an improved system of its geography" (Rennell Preface). With Rennell's first map of Hindoostan, the result of 500 separate surveys and stretching from the Himalayas in the north, to Ceylon in the south, and the "Great Sandy Deserts" in the west.

James Rennell, an eminent cartographer of his era and native of Chudleigh, Devon, England, enlisted as a midshipman in the British Navy at the tender age of 14. Throughout the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), he studied hydrography and marine surveying while traveling the globe. As a consequence, he was appointed surveyor of the British East India Company's dominions in Bengal at the age of 24. 1765 marked the beginning of Rennell's survey of India. At this juncture, the British East India Company had established and sustained its influence in the area for more than a century. However, Queen Victoria's attention was not directed eastward for an additional century; Rennell's expeditions and narratives helped to fill that gap in time. Rennell organized the country according to the Mughal provinces of 'subas' by combining data from British Army columns with Ain-e-Akbari (1598), a translation of Islamic geography of the empire that provided him with information regarding ancient divisions.

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