- Title: Le Cours du Rhin
- Author: Jean Covens, Corneille Mortier
- Date: c. 1730
- Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving
- Condition: Very Good Plus - light age toning, separations in margins at issued center fold, areas of surface dirt
- Inches: 26 1/4 x 20 3/4 [Paper]
- Centimeters: 66.68 x 52.71 [Paper]
- Product ID: 100533
Le Cours du Rhin au dessus de Strasbourg et les Païs Adjacens. Par Guillaume de L'Isle de l'Academie Royale des Sciences. A Amsterdam Chez Jean Covens et Corneille Mortier Géographes.
"The Course of the Rhine above Strasbourg and the Adjacent Countries. By Guillaume de L'Isle of the Royal Academy of Sciences. In Amsterdam House of Jean Covens and Corneille Mortier Geographers."
Map of the Rhine River at the present-day border of France and Germany.
Pieter [Pierre] Mortier (1661 - 1711), Dutch cartographer, engraver, and print seller active in Amsterdam, founder of one of the greatest cartographic dynasties in Europe, spanning over two centuries. Active in Paris from 1681 to 1685, adopting the French name Pierre, which he retained throughout his career. Mortier wisely developed deep French connections by bringing sophisticated Dutch printing technology and experience to early French map publishers such as De L'Isle, Sanson, Jaillot, de Fer and De Wit. As a result, Mortier's business was built upon issuing high quality editions of contemporary French maps. This led to a great advantage as most Dutch map publishers had by then compromised their legacy by reprinting their own outdated works. At the time, the cartographers of France were producing the most accurate and up to date charts available, leading to their cartographic supremacy for much of the eighteenth century. Upon Pierre's death in 1711 his business was inherited by his widow Amelia (1666-1719). In 1721, his son Cornelius Mortier (1699-1783) took over the day to day operation of the firm. Cornelius partnered with his brother-in-law Jean Covens (1697-1774) to form one of history's great cartographic publishing houses - Covens and Mortier - which continued to publish maps and atlases until about 1866.