Carte du Tunquin

Uncommon Jesuit maps of the river network centred on Hanoi and the Gulf of Tonkin. They were first published in 1810 in Lyon, in the Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses (marked ‘Tom. 16’), and reprinted in 1819 (these copies, marked ‘Tome 9’). Little is known of the author, apart from the name of the engraver (Porlier in this edition). The Lettres Édifiantes were published by the French Jesuits to publicise the evangelising work of the Society of Jesus. A text accompanying the maps states that they are copies of Chinese maps of the region, made by order of the Kangxi Emperor (Qing dynasty, 1654-1722), who invited Jesuit missionaries to China; among them, Ferdinand Verbiest rebuilt the imperial astronomical observatory in 1673.