ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 61 | February 2003
Recent Acquistions for the Map and Pictures Collections from Christies Auctions
![]() |
| Henri-Louis de
Freycinet, 17751840 Voyage de découvertes du Capitaine de Vaisseau Mr Baudin cours d'une partie de la Rivière du Nord, Terre de Diemen 1802 col. map on sheet 35.4 x 73.5 cm Map Collection RM 3671 |
Two very special auctions were conducted by Christies (London) in late September last year.
The Freycinet Collection, auctioned on the morning of the 26 September received much publicity and fanfare beforehand, due in part to its ownership by Alan Bond.
While the maps of the Swan River and Sydney, including two manuscript maps by John Oxley, received considerable attention, the map of the Derwent River by Nicholas Baudin, acquired by the National Library, was virtually unnoticed.
The Freycinet collection comprised 13 manuscript maps as well as archival pictorial and printed items compiled on the Baudin voyage of 180004 and the Freycinet voyage of 181720.
The Baudin expedition was perhaps the most important of the early-19th century expeditions to explore Australia. Not only was it led by a highly experienced explorer, navigator, draughtsman and natural scientist in Nicolas Baudin, he also had on board the Freycinet brothers, Henri and Louis-Claude, cartographers to the voyage, as well as a team of 22 scientists, including a hydrographer, engineer, naturalist, and artists.
![]() |
|
Plate 6 reproduced from F.F. Bellingshausens atlas Atlas KPuteshestuya kapitana Bellingsgauzena v Yuzhnom ledovitam Okeana i vo Krug Sveta 1819 1820 i 1821 (Sanktpeterburg, 1831) |
Baudin reached the Derwent River, Tasmania, on 23 January 1802. Henri de Freycinet commenced a survey and Baudin compiled the incomplete map, titled Cours dune partie de la Rivière du Nord, Terre de Diemen , including soundings, showing the traverse of the river between Mt Direction and New Norfolk. The river was partly surveyed by DEntrecasteaux in 1793. Baudins map is one of the earliest surveys of the river and is notable for its attention to detail, particularly on the health of the river. The notation of the rich black mud on the river floor herbieu inu vase noire and the carefully depicted strands of giant kelp crossing the river at Bridgewater and also extending some distance downstream gives some insight into the careful observations executed by Baudins team throughout the voyage. The reduced and very modified reproduction of the map in Freycinets published atlas of 1812 ignores the kelp and somewhat dismisses the significance of one of the most important of Tasmanias rivers.
In sharp contrast to the Freycinet Collection the sale of Antarctic material from the Silverman Collection later in the day attracted little, if any, attention by the Australian media. Included in the auction was Thaddeus Bellingshausens Atlas KPuteshestuya kapitana Bellingsgauzena v Yuzhnom ledovitam Okeana i vo Krug Sveta 1819 1820 i 1821.
Fabian Gottlieb Benjamin Thaddeus von Bellingshausens voyage to the Pacific and Antarctica, 181921 was the second of two significant voyages made to the Pacific region by Russian explorers during the early part of the 19th century, the first being that of Kruzenstern.
![]() |
| Plate 27 reproduced from F.F. Bellingshausens atlas Atlas KPuteshestuya kapitana Bellingsgauzena v Yuzhnom ledovitam Okeana i vo Krug Sveta 1819 1820 i 1821 (Sanktpeterburg, 1831) |
James Cooks exploration of the Pacific in search of the elusive southern continent, particularly his second voyage, which brought him to the Antarctic Circle, influenced the Russian Admiralty to instruct Bellingshausen to complement Cooks voyage by travelling as far south as possible with particular emphasis on navigation and charting. Beginning at South Georgia he discovered the Traverse Islands and reached south of 69 degrees, the most southerly point gained by explorers at that time, and continued east, south of 65 degrees, to 87 degrees east, having followed the edge of the ice to the same point Cook had reached from the opposite direction. Almost sighting Enderby Land he headed north for Sydney, taking time to make sensitive portraits of Aboriginal people and to observe and record the native flora and fauna of the area before traversing the South Pacific. He travelled south again to below 60 degrees, crossing the Antarctic Circle three more times. He discovered and named Peter Island, the first land to be seen within the Antarctic Circle and also charted and named Alexander Island. In all he traversed 43 degrees of longitude, compared to Cooks 24 degrees, of the Antarctic Circle.
Unlike Cooks voyages, Bellingshausens voyage did not receive the same publishing interest or prominence and it was 1831 before the two travel volumes (not included in this auction) and the atlas were published, 10 years after the voyage.
The narrative was published in a limited run of 600 copies, although it
is not known how many copies of the atlas were produced. In addition to the
finely etched charts, showing the route of the voyage in its various stages,
the atlas also features the sensitive portraits of Aboriginal people and
carefully executed illustrations of flora and fauna encountered throughout the
voyage.
Maura OConnor, Curator of Maps
| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: gateways@nla.gov.au