Atlas des colonies françaises, protectorats et territoires sous mandat de la France

First edition, illustrated with 39 double-page colour maps.

Publisher’s binding of brown textured cloth backed with matching corners, smooth spine without lettering, showing rubbing with some fraying to the cloth; title stamped to the upper board; marbled endpapers; corners worn. Publisher’s binding.

Scattered, insignificant foxing; the table of contents leaf is creased; a dampstain with discoloration and paper loss to the foot of the rear board.

This is the last of the major general atlases of the French colonies to appear before the upheavals of the Second World War. Through both text and cartography, it offers an exceptionally comprehensive survey of France’s overseas possessions, each geographical area being treated in a separate section (North Africa, French West Africa, French Equatorial Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarenes, Indochina, Oceania, the Antilles, the French Mandate in the Levant), concluding with a substantial index.

The son of the explorer Maurice Grandidier, Guillaume Grandidier (1873–1957) was above all a geographer, and — like his father — a specialist on Madagascar.

Laid in: Study map of the principal transport routes of Central-West Africa (southern Sahara), a large folding map (with significant paper loss along one fold).