Pierre Du Val was born in Abbeville, France, in either 1618 or 1619, and died in Paris in 1683. He belonged to a prominent lineage of French geographers and cartographers, having been the nephew and favoured pupil of Nicolas Sanson, who is widely considered the father of French cartography. Du Val received his early training and cartographic education directly under Sanson’s guidance, which heavily influenced his style and technical focus. He later established himself in Paris, operating from a workshop at the Quai de l’Horloge, and grew his professional standing through marriage into the family of an elite merchant, which solidified his position among Parisian map sellers.
Du Val played a significant role in advancing 17th-century French mapmaking and geographical education, operating as both an original mapmaker and a prolific publisher. He was appointed Géographe Ordinaire du Roy (Geographer to the King) to Louis XIV in 1650, a role in which he prioritised precision, scientific detail, and contemporary political or military developments, intentionally moving away from the fantastical embellishments favoured by previous generations. Beyond standard cartography, Du Val was a notable educational innovator and became the first person in France to publish an extensive series of geographic board and card games designed to teach the subject to broader audiences, such as Le Jeu du Monde (1645) and Tables de géographie réduites en un jeu de cartes (1669). Over his career, he authored, re-engraved, and edited approximately one hundred maps and a dozen atlases, collaborating frequently with print-sellers like Pierre Mariette and other prominent Parisian editors like Nicolas Berey and Alexis-Hubert Jaillot. Following his death in 1683, his existing stock and printing business passed to, and was continued by, his widow, Marie Desmaretz, and their daughters. His key publications include his first compiled atlas, Cartes Géographiques Méthodiquement Divisées (1654), La Carte générale du monde (1661), the instructional treatise La sphere françoise (1663), and the comprehensive La Géographie universelle.
Pierre Du Val will be remembered as a highly prolific royal geographer who balanced rigorous scientific cartography with pioneering pedagogical innovations, leaving behind a monumental body of educational games, maps, and atlases that helped cement French pre-eminence in the field.
Paris: DU VAL, Pierre, 1676 (dated)
38.5 x 36.8 cm / 15.2 x 14.5 in
Description This map of the Western Hemisphere by Pierre du Val was published in Paris, in 1676. It was first issued in 1655, then underwent numerous revisions throughout its publication history until 1684, the year.....