Hannibal's March into Italy, d'Anville Map for Rollin's Roman History, 1818

An original copper engraved map, uncolored, from the 1818 Paris atlas made for the works of Charles Rollin. It covers the western Mediterranean from the east coast of Spain across southern Gaul to the whole of Italy, with Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearic Islands and the north coast of Sicily. A double ruled line, keyed at upper left, traces Hannibal's marches. Saguntus, Tarraco, Barcino and the Bouches de l'Ebre mark the Spanish coast; Tolosa, Massilia and Arelate stand in Gaul; Mediolanum, Ticinum, Placentia, Bononia, Genua, Ravenna, Capua, Nola and Tarentum are placed in Italy. The seas are lettered Mer Ligustique, Mer Supérieure and Mer Inférieure, and the Iles de Lipare lie off Sicily.

The title cartouche at upper right reads Carte / Pour l'Expédition d'Annibal / sur laquelle son passage en / Italie / et les principales de ses Marches / sont tracés / pour l'intelligence de l'Histoire Romaine / de Rollin, / Par d'Anville / Geographe ordinaire du Roi. The plate number Pl. 19 is engraved above the upper right corner of the neatline. At upper left a block headed Echelles gives three scale bars, Milles des Romains valant 754 Toises, Stades des Grecs, dont 8 valent un Mille and Lieues Françaises, de 3000 Pas Géometriques, followed by the key line Marches d'Annibal.

The plate belongs to the Atlas de Géographie Ancienne, published in Paris in 1818 by Ledoux et Tenré and printed by Didot le jeune to accompany the works of Charles Rollin (1661 to 1741), author of the Histoire ancienne and the Histoire romaine. Its maps were engraved after the originals of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697 to 1782). In the signed foreword Ambroise Tardieu, géographe-graveur, states that the maps were copied with religious fidelity and that, charged with revising the proofs, he had only to correct negligences and faults of execution. Hannibal's expedition belongs to the Second Punic War, when the Carthaginian general led his army from Spain over the Alps into Italy.

This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.