Henri Abraham Chatelain; 1684-1743.
Little is known about this Parisian born protestant minister.
A prolific engraver he resided in London (from 1710), then
in The Hague (from 1721) and finally in Amsterdam from 1728.
His only call to fame is for his contribution with his father Zacharie and his brother Zacharie junior, to the encyclopedic
"Atlas Historique, ou Nouvelle Introduction à l'Histoire,
à la Chronologie, et à la Géographie..." with text by Nicholas
Gueudeville. It was issued several times between 1705 and
1721, and then again between 1732 and 1739.
Most of the maps he prepared for this monumental seven volume
work were derived from De L'isle, sometimes seemingly from
de Wit. They are characteristically replete with detailed
annotations and explanations, sometimes to the point of showing
much more text than image.
Description de l'Isthme de Darien des Proprietez du Pais et de la Ville de Panama; a la Quelle on a Joint une Description Curieuse des Diverses Plantes, Oiseaux, Poissons les plus Rares qui se Trouvent dans la Nouvelle Hollande.
This diminutive map (4 3/4" X 4 3/4") was prepared for
the "Atlas Historique".
Its printing date is not known, but volume VI of the Atlas was issued only three times, first in 1719 and last in 1732.
It is directly derived from a work by Lionel Wafer publised in Dutch in 1698 and English in 1699..
It depicts the overall layout of the Isthmuswith quite good accuracy (notice the Chagre River which has been anihilated by the creation of the Gatun Lake buit to feed the canal of Panama).
The two top insets detail the northern and southern coast close to the two ens of teh Camino Real, that is Porto Bello and Panama City.
The map is surrounded by two columns of text about the bay and town of Panama, plus observations about the topography, flora and traits and customs of the natives.
The rest of the whole page ( 17" X 14 1/2") is devoted to flora and fauna of Australia (witout doubt to maximize use of paper (see bellow).
No text on verso.

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