Provenance: This lot is sold to benefit the Asian Cultural Council

ABOUT THE WORK

This three-part map captures colonial Philippine cartography at its most authoritative. Being the first modern topographical map of the country anchored on scientific surveys, this is inarguably the premier map of the 19th-century Philippines. The production of this map is a full circle journey of rigorous empirical research that started with Felipe Bauzá’s hydrographic surveys, the Carta General de Filipinas (1792) This map encapsulates Francisco Coello's view of Las Islas Filipinas. Born Francisco Coello de Portugal y Quesada, he emerged as one of the leading Spanish cartographers of the 19th century. A native of Jaén, Spain, Coello joined the military in 1833, enlisting himself in the Special Army Corps of Engineers Academy of Guadalajara. Upon graduating with honors from the academy, he joined the Corps of Military Engineers. Coello subsequently served in the First Carlist War (1833 – 1839) and later in Algeria, where he rose to the rank of Colonel. In 1846, Coello was appointed Director-General of the Corps of Engineers, where he would supervise a string of monumental projects that would forever revolutionize the cartography of the Spanish Empire at its twilight. Coello would collaborate with Pascual Madox in systematically gathering and authenticating sources to bring forth the most comprehensive and most geographically accurate collection of large-scale maps of Spain and her surviving colonies during the middle of the 19th century. Coello and Madox’s joint project was referred to as the Atlas de España y sus posesiones de Ultramar. From 1848 onwards, maps from the atlas were issued individually. Although the project was never fully completed due to Coello's death and the commencement of the SpanishAmerican War, 46 parts of the atlas had been produced. Nevertheless, the Atlas de España was a monumental project, for it depicted the first scientifically produced topographical maps of the Philippines. The three-part map on hand was one of the collection's earliest and most important issues. The three distinct parts, which, when joined together, form a complete map of the Philippines, are as follows: a.) Islas Filipinas. Primera Hoja Central (1849), b.) Islas Filipinas. Segunda Hoja Central (1850), and c.) Islas Filipinas Posesiones de Oceania. Media Hoja Superior. Media Hoya Inferior (1852). The Primera Hoja Central shows the islands of Luzon and Mindoro. It also consists of 12 insets, which includes detailed maps of 19th-century Manila and its suburbs, the bays of Manila and Matnog, and several ports: Mariveles in Bataan, Limbones and Cavite in Cavite, San Miguel, Masbate, and San Jacinto in Masbate, San Jose in Occidental Mindoro, and Sorsogon. The Segunda Hoja Central encompasses Palawan, the Visayas, Mindanao, and North Borneo. The third part, the Islas Filipinas Posesiones de Oceania, constitutes two substantial sections. The first is the Media Hoja Superior, which features the islands of Batanes. It also includes a detailed essay on the historical geography of the Philippines. It was written by Pascual Madox and is consistent with the Diccionario geográfico-estadísticohistórico, an exhaustive geographic handbook of Spain and her colonies, jointly organized by Coello and Madox. Situated below the Superior is the Media Hoya Inferior, which shows the Sulu archipelago and the Sultanate of Borneo. It also features six insets, depicting Zamboanga, the bay of Maluso, Jolo, and the ports of Santa Maria (in Zamboanga), Baras (in Lanao del Sur), and Isabela (in Basilan). Inferior also includes a small, colorful, general map of the Philippines in the center. Coello's map became the groundwork of all general topographical mapping of the Philippines for the rest of the 19th century, including being the basis for Anselmo Ollero's Carta Itineraria de la Isla de Luzon (1882) and Ramon Prats' Islas Filipinas (1887). Importantly, it was also the general map utilized by warring forces of the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the PhilippineAmerican War (1899 – 1902). Maps from the Atlas de España were also highly coveted for their accuracy and superior lithographic production. And as such, this three-part map is a rarity, for it possesses completeness and intactness in form. Source: https://exhibits. stanford.edu/ruderman/catalog/wk931mh3595