134 MAPS AND THEIR MAKERS 



attracted their customers. In this respect, again, Delisle marks 

 the transition to the modem map. His total output was not 

 large, approximately 100 maps, in comparison with seventeenth- 

 century map publishers, and much of his work was done 

 to accompany works of travel or topography, for a map by 

 Delisle was held to confer distinction on them. 



He seems to have extended this simplicity of style to the 

 representation of relief; he was certainly justified in objecting 

 to some styles of mountain drawing, thought to enhance the 

 attractiveness of a map, but on the main principle he was 

 sound: 



"One of the main things demanded of a geographer is 

 to mark clearly the rivers and mountains, because these are 

 the natural bounds which never change, and which lead 

 naturally to the discovery of geographical truths." 



The improvement in the map of the world initiated by 

 Delisle was continued and greatly extended by J. B. Bour- 

 guignon d'Anville (1697-1782). His talent lay in the critical 

 assessment and correlation of older topographical sources, and 

 their reconciliation with contemporary observations. He was 

 essentially a scholar, working mostly from written texts, which 

 he collated with existing maps, and expressing his conclusions 

 cartographically. Throughout his life he never journeyed 

 beyond the environs of Paris. His extensive collection of 

 cartographic material (10-12,000 pieces) was famous. Acquired 

 by the French Government shortly before his death, it is now 

 in the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris. So great was his skill 

 and industry that he soon acquired an international reputation 

 as a map maker in an age in which classical scholarship still 

 dominated the world of learning. D'Anville was in fact the last, 

 and perhaps the greatest of those, who since the Renaissance, 

 had followed this procedure, and he probably carried it as far 

 as it was possible. He was one of the first to study the works 

 of Oriental writers for details on the countries of the East. 

 Further approach to accuracy could be attained only from 

 exploration and actual survey of the continental interiors. 



The first mark of recognition was bestowed upon him by 



