Amsterdam: Chez Zacharie Châtelain, 1721-1720-1720-1714-1719-1719-1720. 7 volumes, folio.

An ambitious and beautifully-presented work, the “Atlas Historique” covers a wide range of subjects including genealogy, history, cosmography, topography, heraldry and chronology, costume of the world, all illustrated with numerous engraved maps, plates of local inhabitants and heraldic charts of the lineages of the ruling families of the time. The maps, prints and tables required to make up a complete set are listed in detail in each volume and this set matches those requirements precisely.

First published in Amsterdam from 1705 to 1720, the various volumes were updated at various times up to 1739 when the fourth edition of vol.I appeared, stated as the "dernière edition, corrigée & augmentée."
The first four volumes seem to have undergone four printings with the later printings being the most desirable as they contain the maximum number of corrections and additions. The remaining three final volumes were first issued between 1719-1720 and revised in 1732.

The present set is made up as follows: First editions of vols. 3,4,5,6 second edition of vols 2 and a third edition of vol. one.

Henri Abraham Chatelain (1684 – 1743) was a Huguenot pastor of Parisian origins. He lived consecutively in Paris, St. Martins, London (c. 1710), the Hague (c. 1721) and Amsterdam (c. 1728). The publishing firm of Chatelain, Chatelain Frères and Chatelain & Fils is recorded in Amsterdam, from around 1700-1770, with Zacharias living "op den Dam" in 1730.

New scholarship has suggested the compiler of the atlas, who is identified on the title as "Mr. C***" not to be Henri Abraham Châtelain, but Zacharie Châtelain. (See Van Waning's article in the Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society for persuasive evidence of the latter's authorship.)
The images incorporated into the plates and tables are drawn from the best available contemporary sources, including the works of Dapper, Chardin, de Bruyn, Le Hay and others. Many of the maps are based on the work of Guillaume de l'Lisle.

Henri Abraham Chatelain (1684-1743), his father Zacharie Chatelain (d.1723) and Zacharie Junior (1690-1754), worked as a partnership publishing the Atlas Historique, Ou Nouvelle Introduction à L'Histoire under several different Chatelain imprints, depending on the Chatelain family partnerships at the time of publication.
The atlas was published in seven volumes between 1705 and 1720, with a second edition appearing in 1732. The maps were accompanied by information pertaining to cosmography, geography, history, chronology, genealogy, topography, heraldry, and costumes of the world.
The maps in the Atlas Historique were mainly based on those of the French cartographer, Guillaume De L’Isle, but were presented by the Chatelains in an encyclopaedic form. The accompanying text is in French and often is printed in two columns on the page with maps and other illustrations interspersed. Each map and table is numbered consecutively within its volume and all maps bear the privileges of the States of Holland and West-Friesland.

One of the most remarkable maps from the Atlas Historique is the vast Carte Tres Curieuse De La Mer Du Sud. This spectacular map focuses on North and South America while also incorporating the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Central to the detail is the large depiction of California as an island a somewhat outdated concept at the time of publication and a contrast to the geographically accurate (relatively) delineation of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi.
The Carte Tres Curieuse is also renowned for its illustrations of the New World; beavers are shown at work by Niagara Falls, a fishing factory is in operation in New England, and numerous views of New World cities are also included. Medallion portraits of New World explorers show Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan, Drake, La Salle and Dampier.

The maps in this historical encyclopedia are of interest for the use of East Sea, the sea between Korea and Japan, here called "Mer Orientale ou Mer de Corée". A large portion is devoted the the History of China, and their relegious aspects with mentioning the Missionary works by father Rizzi, etc.

The encyclopaedic nature of the work as a whole is reflected in this six frontispiece. The pages are the work of the celerated mr. Romeijn de Hooghe. and are engraved by J.Goeree, T.Schynyoet and P.Sluyter.

First volume concerns the ancient world, and contemporary Italy, France, and Spain. Eight of the double-page maps are of ancient political and geographical boundaries and locations, plus city views of Rome. Volume also includes genealogical and historical charts and tables. Two of the maps touch on North America: Plates 2 and 4, double-hemisphere world maps which include North America with California shown as an island.

Volume VI
Phillips records 35 maps of American interest, including twelve in vol.VI. The most important of the American interest maps is the "Carte tres curieuse de la Mer du Sud" [Goss North America 52; McLaughlin 190; Wagner 511] which depicts the history of discovery in the western hemisphere from the time of Columbus to the French explorations in North America in the late seventeenth century. The example in the present set is a fine dark impression on four sheets joined to form two large folding sheets.

References: Koeman II, Cha 1-7 (with variant collation, as usual); Cf. Phillips Atlases 579; Goffart, Historical Atlases, p. 132; van Waning, "Chatelain's Atlas Historique" in Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society, Spring 2010.

New scholarship has suggested the compiler of the atlas, who is identified on the title as "Mr. C***" not to be Henri Abraham Châtelain, but Zacharie Châtelain. (See Van Waning's article in the Journal of the International Map Collectors' Society for persuasive evidence of the latter's authorship.) The images incorporated into the plates and tables are drawn from the best available contemporary sources, including the works of Dapper, Chardin, de Bruyn, Le Hay and others. Many of the maps are based on the work of Guillaume de l'Lisle.