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Copper Plate Engraving. A projection by Pingré of the Transit of Venus 3 June 1769, published in 1767, 478 x 244mm image size, light creases from old folds, framed with good margins, very good indeed in Hogarth frame. The National Maritime Museum holds 2 copies of 'Mémoire sur le choix et l'état des lieux où le passage de Vénus du 3 Juin 1769 pourra être observe avec le plus d'avantage' and in each case the map is present and the title page is dated 1767. The Biblioteque Nationale de France lists this item with a date of 1769, no place, no date, however the 'Mémoire' lists it clearly as 1767. Published in Paris as part of the 'l'Académie Royale des Sciences' in 1767, the 'Mémoire sur le choix et l'état des lieux où le passage de Vénus du 3 Juin 1769 pourra être observe avec le plus d'avantage: et principalement sur la position géographique des isles de la mer du Sud' / par M. Pingré.Comparison with Guillaume De L'Isle's 1714 'Hemisphere pour voir Les Terres/Meridional plus distinctement Australes' confirms that there are differences in the geographical information presented (e.g. on the coast of New Zealand, the Pingré names 'B.e des Meurtriers', which is not a name used in the De L'Isle map; around 265 degrees longitude Pingre describes land seen by the Spanish in 1714, and De L'Isle does not.) The 'land' depicted is most probably a reef. Produced before both Cook's 1769-1770 voyage to New Zealand via Tahiti to record the Transit of Venus on 3 June 1769 and the Transit itself. The chart in the Turnbull Library (Wellington, NZ) has the depiction labelled from Abel Tasman's voyage and sighting of the South Island in 1642. What Tasman named 'Moordenaars baey' (Golden Bay today) is located on the northern shore of the South Island along Cook Strait, the orientation of the coastline in his 1642 map extends north to south rather than the correct east to west. As Cook's excellent chart of New Zealand was still six years away from being published, Pingré based his depiction of New Zealand on the only available map, i.e. Tasman's, and followed the same (incorrect) orientation of the coastline. Alexandre Guy Pingré C.R.S.A. (1711-1796) was a French canon regular, astronomer and naval geographer. At an early age Pingré had developed an interest in astronomy, and in 1749 he was appointed professor of astronomy at the newly founded Academy of Rouen. He would eventually be appointed the librarian of the Abbey of St. Genevieve in Paris, and the university's chancellor. At St. Genevieve he would build an observatory, and continue to work there for forty years. During the 1761 transit of Venus, Pingré went on one of the three observing campaigns organized by the Académie Royale, travelling to Rodrigues Island near Madagascar, which was unsuccessful. In 1767 he sailed to the Baltic with Charles Messier to test marine chronometers. Two years later he joined a successful expedition to Haiti to observe the Venus transit of 1769. In 1771 he participated in the naval survey of the frigate 'La Flore' with Verdun de la Crenne and Borda. The ship, however, was seized by British forces at sea, and Pingré was deposited in Portugal, having lost all his notes. He continued to publish his work, however, until his death in 1796.In July /August 2024 scientists led by the Schmidt Ocean Institute discovered a new underwater mountain (Seamount) 900 miles off the Chile coast rising 2 miles (3,100 metres) from the sea floor with thriving deep-sea ecosystems, ancient corals and glass sponges previously unknown. Already scientists estimate they may have found more than 100 species unknown to science and situated in close proximity to the 'land discovered in 1714' as shown on Pingré's chart.
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