Carte des voies de communication établies dans le Monde entier, au moyen de la vapeur et de l'électricité; 'World's Steam and Electric Map' Avec indications des Postes Consulaires de France sur le Globe dressée d’après les documents officiels très récents par Anatole Chatelain Ex-Chef du Bureau de la Statistique au Ministère des Affaires Étrangères et dédiée a S.M. l’Empereur.

"Lithograph with original hand colour, dissected into 32 sections and amounted upon original linen, inscribed to the right of tile in mss.: “A S.E. Monsieur le Comte de Chasseloupe-Laubat, Hommage de l’Auteur, tres respecteux, [with hand-stamped signature of Chatelain in blue ink], Xbre 1862”, publisher’s pastedown label to verso, folding into original maroon cloth slipcase bearing gilt short title to spine. The exceedingly rare first edition of the mandarin, dramatist and cartographer Anatole Chatelain’s monumental and beautifully rendered world map showing all major railways, steamships routes, telegraph lines (both terrestrial and submarine), and canals/navigable inland routes; the finest such map made during the ‘Age of Steam and Electricity’ and the era of Jules Verne’s ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’, which saw a revolution in global transportation and communications with transformative social, economic and military ramifications; the present example having an august provenance, bearing the mss. inscription of the author to Prosper de Chasseloupe-Laubat, the ultra-powerful French Minister of the Navy & Colonies, who was the driving force behind France’s aggressive colonial expansion and a preeminent promoter of infrastructure development on five continents. The advent of steam power and electricity during the mid-19th century totally revolutionized global transportation and communications. Steam ships and trains slashed travel times from months to weeks, or even days, while telegraph lines allowed messages to be delivered almost instantly over thousands of kms, correspondence which previously took months. These developments had a transformative impact upon social behavior, colonialism, cross-cultural exchange, the economy, military affairs and geopolitics worldwide. The spirit of the new stream-electricity revolution was best captured in prose by Jules Verne’s epic bestseller Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1872), first published in English as Around the World in Eighty Days (1873), whereby a circumnavigation in that short period of time was by then possible, while previously such a tour would have taken years. At the height of the stream-electricity revolution, France, ruled by the ultra-expansionist Emperor Napoleon III (to whom the map is dedicated in the title), was a key mover of events. At this time, Anatole Chatelain, a senior French fonctionnaire, who moonlighted as a cartographer and dramatist, created an amazing map that, just as Verne would later capture in words, would graphically express the revolution perhaps better than any other work. The highly attractive, very large-format production (1.2 x 1.6 metres / approx. 4 x 5 feet!) showcases the entire world on Mercator’s Projection, with each country and colony outlined in its own bright hues, most being colour-coded by nationality possession (as explained in the ‘Signes et Conventions’ register, lower right), while the coastlines are outlined in a lively blue tone. The map features a vast wealth of information on transportation and communications, as explained in the ‘Légende’, including railways (lines tinted in ochre); steamship lines on ocean and lakes (lines tinted in red) along with notes showing their frequency (weekly, etc.), prices and route distances, while large flags are used to identify the ownership of the steamship lines (France, Russia, Netherlands, Brazil, Britain, Prussia, Belgium, Chile, USA, Ottoman Empire, Portugal, Austria, Denmark, Egypt, Japan, Italy, Sweden, Bremen, Imperial Russian American Company (Alaska), Spain, Norway, Hamburg, and the Hudson’s Bay Company (Canada)). Navigable inland waterways are represented by bold green lines, while steamship lines running on navigable rivers and canals are represented by lines tinted either green or brown. Telegraph lines in operation (tinted in blue) are showcased, along with lines both under construction and planned. The map also shows caravan routes and horse/stagecoach routes (crossed lines), as well as the tracks of key modern explorers (arrowed lines). Additionally, major overland routes across isthmuses between key bodies of water are represented by brown-tinted double lines. The geography of the world is well mapped, save for parts of interior of Africa, the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Antarctica, which remain somewhat enigmatic. The map shows an awareness of many recent and ongoing key events of migration that were in good part enabled by the steam-electricity revolution, including the California Gold Rush (1848-55), the Victoria Gold Rush, in Australia (1851-69) and the Fraser Valley Gold Rush, in British Columbia (commenced 1858). Interestingly, the map also shows the survey routes for the Transatlantic Telegraph Cable, a connection that was first opened (tentatively) in 1858 but would not become practically operable until 1866. Also notable, is the route of the telegraph line that runs from Missouri to San Francisco, being the The frequency of the services, the duration of the journeys have been indicated whenever this could be done without harming clarity. It is easy to understand what interest there is for merchants, businessmen and people of the world, such a map which neatly summarizes so much diverse data. the whole world; because M. Anatole Châtelain took care to indicate using the ingenious notation of national flags the radius of activity or action of each of the great powers of the world. This planisphere thus presents the current assessment of the political situation, maritime, and commercial of all peoples. This work, which cost its author so much care, and whose dedication the Emperor was kind enough to accept, was favorably received by the public in France and in England. He was honored with a unique medal at the last international exhibition in London; it was the object in Paris of several ministerial subscriptions. It was an obligation for the author to bring to his work the corrections, the improvements, which would be announced to him, he did it with a loyalty and an eagerness which we hasten to announce; and each of the successive printings testifies to M. A. Châtelain's desire to take into account the observations made to him. It is not our intention to compare this map, as has been done in Germany, with the remarkable planisphere published since in Gotha by MM. Hermann Berghaus and Stülpnagel; the parallel is not possible with an exclusively geographical and scientific map, which leaves nothing to be desired, like this last map, in which the rigorous representation of the globe in its most complete details was moreover the main objective point, while that in the map of M. A. Châtelain, the geographical layout was only the means and the indication of the general ways of communication, the dominant idea. It is undoubtedly this striking and synoptic character of the movement of international communications that Mr. A. Châtelain managed to give to his map which more particularly fixed the attention of the international jury, and earned him a deserved distinction. Anatole Julien Chatelain: Mandarin, Dramatist and Mapmaker Anatole Julien Chatelain (1817 - 1898) was a senior French government official who moonlighted as cartographer and playwright. He served as the editor of publications for the French Department of Agriculture and Commerce (1849–7) and was subsequently the Chief of the Bureau of Statistics at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1855-8). He ended his civil service career as the Chief of the Bureau of the Ministry of Public Instruction (Education). Chatelain was long fascinated with statistic and the graphic representation of data, and his official duties gave him privileged access to the best intelligence from around the word. In addition to creating and editing the various editions of the Carte des voies de communication établies dans le Monde (1862-96), Chatelain made an atlas of the early historical development of the French railway system, Atlas chronologique des chemins de fer de France dressé par Anatole Chatelain, d'après les documents du bureau de la Statistique des chemins de fer (1855), as well as a railway map of the country, Carte des chemins de fer de France et des pays limitrophes (1858). best communication route across America in the era before the completion of the Central Pacific Railway in 1869. In Egypt, one can see the route of the under-construction Suez Canal that would transform global transportation upon its completion in 1869. The map features insets, in the lower corners, that detail the transport-communication systems in the Eastern USA-Canada and Europe, while an inset, in the top centre, showcases the system in Great Britain. Indicative of France’s grandiose global ambitions, the map labels the locations of French consulate-generals (double-tipped black flags), consulates (black flags) and vice-consulates (white flags) all around the world, a system which had been greatly expanded during the reign of Napoleon III. Chatelain welcomed advice from the public on how to improve the map, as a note in the lower margin, given in both French and English reads: “The gentlemen who interest themselves in the important movement brought forward in the present map, are requested to send their remarks on any successive addition or rectification, to Mr. Anatole Chatelain at the Ministry of State in Paris”. Accordingly, Chatelain regularly produced updated editions of the map over the next three decades. Today, all the editions are rare to extremely rare, having been expensive, ‘boutiquey’ productions with limited print runs. We can trace editions issued in 1862 (represented by the present example), 1863, 1867, 1869, 1874, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1889, 1895 and 1896, with the editions from 1876 onwards bearing the title headlined as the ‘Planisphère Chatelain’. The esteemed geographer and cartographer, Victor-Adolphe Malte-Brun (1816 - 1889), wrote a description and glowing review of the second edition (of 1863) of Chatelain’s map, after witnessing its presentation at a meeting of the Société de Géographie in Paris: This beautiful map which was deposited by the Senator Count Walewski on the desk of the Société de Géographie, at the last general assembly of April 15, and which was the object of very flattering attention on the part of of the members of the learned association, is no less than 1.10 high by 1.55 wide. It is a planisphere erected on the Mercator projection, on a scale of approximately 1/280,000,000. The author has proposed to highlight the means of action of human power on the entire globe, with the help of these two marvelous agents which will mark the nineteenth century in the eyes of posterity, steam and electricity. He has therefore shown on his map the lines of communication established by means of steam, that is to say, the railways and the regular lines of steam navigation on the oceans, the inland seas, the lakes, the rivers, the journeys resulting from the most remarkable commercial, scientific or military expeditions; and communication channels established by means of electricity: land or submarine electric telegraph lines; finally, the most important means of communication, not served by steam or electricity, such as the great lines of fluvial communication, the routes followed by the great caravans, the currents of emigration, the explorations of the principal modern travelers and the a thousand accidents that mark transcontinental viability in the New World. An August Provenance: Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat – Architect of French Global Expansion The present example of the map has a fine provenance, coming from the library of the French nobleman and top-flight politician, Prosper de Chasseloupe-Laubat, the 4th Marquis of Chasseloup-Laubat, who would have been a long-time acquaintance of Chatelain. The work is inscribed in manuscript by Chatelain to the marquis (just to the right of the title), “A S.E. Monsieur le Comte de Chasseloupe-Laubat, Hommage de l’Auteur, très respecteux, Anatole Chatelain [with the signature provided as a handstamp in blue ink], Xbre [Decmber] 1862”. Prosper de Chasseloupe-Laubat (1805-73) was a political heavyweight and one of Emperor Napoléon III’s most trusted associates. He had previously served as the French Navy Minister (briefly, in 1851) and subsequently became the Minister for Algeria & the Colonies (1859-60). From 1860 to 1867, he held the new the ultra-powerful combined portfolio of Minister of the Navy & Colonies (1860-7), whereupon he spearheaded the consolidation of French colonial expansion in Africa and Southern Vietnam, as well as contributing to grand overseas military adventures such as the French Intervention in Mexico (1862-7). Additionally, he encouraged French foreign investment in countries the world over and was a globally significant promoter of infrastructure development, backing the creation of railways and telegraph lines on five continents, and such mega-projects as the Suez Canal. Chasseloupe-Laubat was a noted bibliophile and highly carto-literate, and one can be certain that he would have spent a great deal of time pouring over the present work, especially as he had a hand in many of the transport and communication systems represented on the map. A Note on Rarity All editions of the map are rare, with the early editions being extremely uncommon, having been expensive, ‘boutiquey’ productions made in only small print runs. We can trace only a single institutional example of the present first edition of the map, held by the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (Vienna), while we cannot trace any sales records for any other examples." (Alexander Johnson/Dasa Pahor, 2023)
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (Vienna): AT-OeStA/KA KPS KS A VI Thematisch 2; Mittheilungen aus Justus Perthes' Geographischer Anstalt, band 9 (1863), p. 80; Österreichische Militärische Zeitschrift von V. Streffleur, III Jahrgang, vierter band (1862), p. 398; Cf. [re: 1863 ed.:] V.A. MALTE BRUN, ‘Carte des voies de communication’‚ Annales des voyages, de la géographie, de l'histoire et de l'archéologie, année 1864, tome premier (1864), pp. 231-3.