Christophe Tassin (born in the early 1600s in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
; died in 1660 in France), also known as Nicolas Tassin, Christophe Nicolas Tassin or Christophe Le Tassin, was a French
cartographer
Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an im ...
, known for his atlases of France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. Most of his work was published in Paris from 1633 to 1635. Among his colleagues were
Melchior Tavernier
Melchior Tavernier (1594 – May 1665) was a French engraver, printmaker and print publisher.
Heritage, early life, and training
He was the son of Gabriel II Tavernier (1566–1607), an engraver, who in 1573 moved with his father Gabriel I Tave ...
(1594–1665),
Sébastien Cramoisy (1584–1669) and
Michael van Lochum (1601–1647). Little is known of his personal life.
Career
Up to 1631 Christophe Tassin was a French
Royal
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
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* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
Engineer and Geographer (), working on assigned political and military projects. As part of his appointment, he received the right to publish his work for ten years, though he used it only between 1633 and 1638. (His successor as Royal Engineer and Geographer and publisher was
Sébastien de Beaulieu 612–1674)
In 1633 Tassin published an atlas of France and Spain, ; one of Germany, ; and one of the Low Countries, ''.''
In 1634 he published his
magnum opus
A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...
, an atlas – in an oblong
quarto
Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...
format, for which he is best known
– with maps, views and plans of cities and other places in France, , as well as a coastal atlas of France, .
In 1635 he published an atlas of Switzerland, . His inclusion of the Low Countries in a single volume had a practical reason: in 1631 a great part of the region had been conquered by King
Louis XIII of France
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
, which caused a need for rapidly published information.
In 1644 Tassin ended his work, and sold his copper plates of maps to
Antoine de Fer (16xx–1673), who published them in many subsequent editions.
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
External links
Bibliothèque nationale de FranceEntry for Christophe Tassin
Bayerische StaatsbibliothekAtlas of French towns in a 1638 edition.
Bayerische StaatsbibliothekAtlas of Germany in a 1633 edition.
{{Authority control
1660 deaths
17th-century French cartographers