Carte de la Virginie, de la Baye Chesapeack, d. 1757

Map of Virginia by French hydrographer and geographer Jacques-Nicolas Bellin (1703-1772), who produced a prodigious body of work over a nearly fifty-year career. Labelled cities and regions include Philadelphia, Richmond, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Topographical features include the Potomac and James Rivers, and the Appalachian Mountains.

Appointed hydrographer of the French Navy at the age of eighteen, Bellin eventually became Hydrographer to the King in 1741. He published numerous sea atlases and charts which would be reprinted into the nineteenth century, as well as many maps depicting French colonial territories in the New World. His craftsmanship and commitment to accuracy earned him a distinguished reputation as one of the world's leading cartographers, and many other European mapmakers turned to him for source material.