Nouvelle Carte du Mexique, du Texas, et D’Une Partie des Etats Limitrophies.

Planning for the Second French Intervention in Mexico.

This finely engraved map of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States was first published in 1834 by Adrien-Hubert Brue. The image was revised in numerous editions over the next decade and a half (1837, 1839, 1840, 1845, and 1848), offering valuable insight into the development of the region over a period of critical political change – notably U.S. territorial acquisitions after the Mexican-American War. This particular example was updated much later, in 1862, by Alexandre Vuillemin and published in Paris by A. Logerot.

The detailed map presents a comprehensive overview of Mexico and the American West in the second year of the Civil War. Territorial, provincial, and state borders are outlined with original hand while topography is depicted with delicate hachures. Toponyms identify a fascinating variety of settlements (forts, towns, presidios, Indian villages, etc.), geographic features, natural resources, and other elements of interest like the Oregon Trail, early Texas railroads, and Native American tribes.

The timing of the publication was particularly relevant, as Napoleon III of France considered options for an invasion that year. According to the Getty Research Institute;

“By the late 1850s, years of internal strife had left the young republic of Mexico fractured and deeply in debt to Europe. Seeing an opportunity to expand the French Empire in the New World, Napoleon III invaded Mexico in 1862. Ferdinand Maximilian Joseph, archduke of Austria, and his wife, Carlota, were installed as emperor and empress of Mexico in 1864. During this time, the Commission scientifique du Mexique, established by Napoleon III to survey all aspects of the occupied country, produced numerous illustrations for scientific reports and travel narratives.

In addition, souvenir images were created by and for foreign soldiers, and images of Mexico frequently appeared in the international illustrated press. Although the Second Mexican Empire was short-lived—the French army withdrew from Mexico in 1867, leaving Maximilian to face court-martial and execution—the legacy of image-making was continued by artists and photographers who remained in the country.”

Source: Getty Research Institute;