Beschreibung:

FRENCH GUIANA – MILIUS, Pierre-Bernard-– VAILLANT, Auguste Nicolas (1793-1837), BODIN, E. (fl.1820s), and others. Twelve large original drawings, manuscript maps and views relating to the early colonial development of French Guiana. French Guiana, c.1821-1824. A fine archive of original drawings recording the energetic development of French Guiana during the governorship of Baron Milius – the celebrated explorer and colonial administrator who had accompanied Baudin on his Australian Expedition (1800-1803). Baudin’s expedition was the first to survey the western coast of Australia, and much of its southern coast too. The expedition harbored at Sydney in late 1802; for an original view of Sydney from this voyage see Christie’s King Street, Topographical Pictures, 14 December 2017. Baudin was taken ill and died on the return journey, whereupon Milius took command. Milius became director of the port of Venice, then governor of Reunion (1818-1821) before taking his post in Guiana. Milius’s vigorous governorship of Guiana (1823-25), and the drawings in this archive, reflect renewed French commitment to the region after it lost it to Portugal in 1809 and fully took back control in 1817. The drawings record the rapid redevelopment of the capital city, the building of colonies and the detailed surveying of the hinterland, to secure French interests against future aggression. The archive comprises: PARENT, H. “Plan de l’ancienne et nouvelle ville de Cayenne. 1821.”, an original manuscript map, signed “H. Parent”; pencil, pen-and-ink and watercolor (790 x 493mm) on strong laid paper (895 x 615mm) watermarked with a crowned eagle; window mounted (735 x 1020mm). An attractive, highly finished plan for the capital city’s new layout, marking the moment that Cayenne became a modern colonial capital. The expansion had been made possible by a lengthy, arduous process of land reclamation and marshland drainage. And : BODIN, E. “Vue du Port de la Nouvelle Angoulême Juillet 1824”, an original drawing, signed “E. Bodin”; pencil, pen-and-ink and ink wash (1130 x 345mm) on two joined sheets of laid paper (1190 x 410mm) watermarked “Vande Ley” with a figure of fortune (small repair in the bottom right margin, not affecting the image). A finely executed view of this ambitious, newly established colony on the banks of the Mana river. The project had been mandated in 1820 with the aim of establishing, within six years, a colony of 11,000 souls – in part to secure the land against Dutch and British ambitions. And : VAILLANT, Auguste Nicolas “Plan de la Partie du Maroni, Comprise Entre Son Embouchure Et le Parallêle Situé par 5°7’46””, an original manuscript map, c.1824, signed “Aug. Nic. Vaillant”; pen-and-ink and ink wash drawing on laid paper (1000 x 648mm) watermarked “M” within a shield (short repaired tear; some shallow creases). An important early survey of the border between French Guiana and Suriname , commissioned by Milius from Vaillant, his aide-de-camp who later commanded the corvette Bonite on a round-the-world voyage . French and Dutch military posts and settlements face each other across the Maroni [now Suriname] River; Vaillant records soundings and natural features along the watery divide, almost certainly with an eventual conflict in mind. And : Five architectural drawings, by “Captaine Bonne” c.1823, for major works in the expanding capital city Cayenne, including a 120-meter long loading pier for port of Cayenne commissioned by Milius, a military hospital and barracks to house six infantry companies within the capital; and two highly finished drawings by Bodin and Lainé, 1824, both marine charts of the mouth of the Mana River, near the border with Suriname; and one drawing by Vaillant, 17 July 1824, charting the course of the Acarouani; one drawing, by “Captaine Brache”, 1824, charting the course of the Crique Portal river, with a watercolor vignette of the St. Bernard rapids; and a printed map of the coastline near Cayenne, by