Delisles Family
1644-1768, French Cartographic Publishers
The Delisle (also de L'Isle and del Isle) family had a major influence on the the development of French cartography. As a family their reputation was second only to the famous Sanson family as the premier mapmakers in France at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
The company, founded by Claude Delisle (1644-1720), a Parisian geographer and historian, made a made a huge contribution to French mapmaking at a time when the Dutch publishers were finally losing their control of the trade.
Claude Delisle eventually brought four of his 11 sons into the business. Of those sons, Guillaume (1675-1726), Simon Claude (1675-1726), Joseph Nicolas (1688-1768) and Louis (fl.1720-1745) who all made their mark on the business in different ways, it was the famous Guillaume, who proved to be the most remarkable.
Guillaume Delisle
Guillaume, probably one of the greatest figures in French cartography, was immersed in the craft from an early age. It is said that having studied geography under his father, he could, at the age of nine draw maps to demonstrate ancient history. Subsequently under the guidance of Cassini, he got a grounding in mathematics and astronomy, but more importantly Cassini tutored the young Guillaume in the newly developing area of scientific cartography, which is now seen as the hallmark of Guillaume Delisle's work.
Having been elected a member of the Academie Royale des Sciences by the tender age of twenty seven, he later recieved the greatest honour that his country could bestow on a cartographer, that of 'Premier Geographe Du Roi' in 1718.
His work was important as marking a transition from the maps of the Dutch school, which were highly decorative and artistically-orientated, to a more scientific approach. Guillaume's first atlas, published in 1700, the renowned 'Atlas de Geographie', was significant in that maps of the newly explored parts of the world reflected the most up-to-date information available and did not contain fanciful detail in the absence of solid information. Guillaume reduced the importance given to the decorative elements in maps, and emphasised the scientific base on which they were constructed. The modern school of cartography has emerged from this discipline.
Delisle's contribution to the calculation of latitude and longitude, based on a purely scientific approach, and proper contemporary celestial observations, set a new standard of accuracy. It is a telling indictment of his work that not only were his contemporaries quick to follow his lead, but that piracy of his work was widespread, most notably by Chatelain, and the firm of Covens and Mortier in Amsterdam.
An interesting postscript to the Delisle family history, is the fact that Guillaume's younger brother, Joseph Nicolas, who was in charge of the Royal Observatory in St Petersburg, for over 20 years, and a friend Peter the Great, returned to work in France in 1747. He brought home important new material and fresh data relating to explorations along the northern coasts of Russia and America, which he subsequently published as the 'Atlas Russicus' in 1747.
Image(s): Delisle's Carte d'Amérique, 1722
