Espagne et Portugal

Map prepared by Alexandre Aimé Vuillemin for publication in Maison Basset's 1848 edition of Atlas Illustre Destine a l'enseignement de la Geographie elementaire.

Maison Basset (1819 - 1865) was a French publishing concern active through the mid to late 19th century. The firm can trace their roots to André Basset (or Bassett) (fl. 1768 - 1784), who starting publishing maps, prints, and books around 1768. Maison Basset, also Chez Basset, is the imprint under which the heirs of Paul-André Basset (1785 - 1819) published the works of such prominent French cartographers and engravers as Barbie du Bocage, A. Vuillemin, J. B. Charle, V. Levasseur, Tu. Duvotenay, H. Dufor, F. E. George, and others. Their library of publications is diverse and vast, but heavily focused on medical and scientific texts, including several important atlases.

Alexandre Aimé Vuillemin (1812 - 1880) was an engraver, publisher and editor based in Paris in the mid-19th century. Despite a prolific publishing career, much of Vuillemin's life is shrouded in mystery. In 1852 he married Josephine Caroline Goret and they had at least one daughter, Ernestine Adèle Vuillemin, later that year. He studied under the publisher Auguste Henri Dufour (1798 - 1865). Vuillemin's most important work is his detailed and highly decorative large-format Atlas Illustre de Geographie Commerciale et Industrielle.   

Copper engraving with original outline colour, some foxing, otherwise good condition.