Qianlong shisanpai tongban ditu 乾隆十三排銅版地圖 / [zhiban Michel Benoist]. Includes Chinese-English booklet, Qianlong shisanpai tongban ditu yangben 乾隆十三排銅版地圖樣本 with explanation and reduced format foldout of the entire map as it would appear assembled.
Title variants: Qing Qianlong Neifu yutu 清乾隆内府輿圖 ; Palace map of the Chinese Empire ; Jesuit map of China ; Huangyu quantu 皇輿全圖 ; Huangyu quanlantu 皇輿全覽圖; Qianlong Atlas.

This map is based upon the surveys made by the Jesuit Fathers Felix da Rocha 傅作霖 and Joseph d’Espinha 高慎思 between 1756 and 1759. The cartography was completed by Fr. Michel Benoist 蔣友仁 in Beijing. Benoist and his Chinese co-workers prepared the wood-cut edition in 1769, and under their guidance it was etched on copper plates (tongban 銅版) sometime between 1761 and 1770 (some sources say 1773).

Since then, these plates and the original maps were kept in the Palace unseen by the public until 1924, when the Museum staff discovered a complete set of the original copper plates. This example is one of only one-hundred copies that were run on the original plates. One hundred copies were expected to be printed by 1932.

The map was commissioned by the Qianlong emperor in order to utilize Jesuit expertise in cartography in creating an accurate map of the empire, especially the restive western regions of Xinjiang and Qinghai, as well as the Yunnan-Guizhou region and the Tibetan plateau. Thus the map covers almost the entire Asian continent, and consists of 104 sheets using the traditional Chinese rectangular-grid mapping system modified to suit longitude and latitude. The small booklet map shows the folio sheets with the orignal for comparison. Reference: Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, v. 3, p. 586.

Note on OCLC record: Map consists of 103 sheets, arranged in 13 horizontal strips. Also uses oblique grids and is divided into 13 horizontal strips, each of five degrees of latitude, with 7.8 cm between latitude lines. Original version: Qing Qianlong Neifu yutu. China: engraved (sic) by Michel Benoist on copper plates in 1773 and printed in 1775. Based on earlier map "Huangyu quanlantu."

Scale: ca. 1:1,500,000

Acquired through purchase ca. 1991 in New York.

"Qianlong Atlas (103 sheets, 365 p. index) reproduced from the 1931 facsimile. Originally published 1775; engravers, Michel Benoist, et al. Most extensive atlas of the period, covering much of Asia and central Asia, Arctic Ocean in the north, Indian Ocean in the south, East China Sea in the east, and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 103 sheets arranged in 13 horizontal rows thus deriving the name Qianlong [Period] in Thirtheen Rows [十三排]"

Title variants: Qing Qianlong Neifu yutu 清乾隆内府輿圖 ; Palace map of the Chinese Empire ; Jesuit map of China ; Huangyu quantu 皇輿全圖 ; Huangyu quanlan tu 皇輿全覽圖; Qianlong Atlas.
This map is based upon the surveys made by the Jesuit Fathers Felix da Rocha 傅作霖 and Joseph d’Espinha 高慎思 between 1756 and 1759. The cartography was completed by Fr. Michel Benoist 蔣友仁 in Beijing. Benoist and his Chinese co-workers prepared the wood-cut edition in 1769, and under their guidance it was engraved on copper plates (銅版) in 1775. Since then, these plates and the original maps have been kept in the Palace unseen by the public until 1924, when the Museum staff discovered a complete set of the original copper plates.
The map was commissioned by the Qianlong emperor in order to utilize Jesuit expertise in cartography in creating an accurate map of the empire, especially the restive western regions of Xinjiang and Qinghai, as well as the Yunnan-Guizhou region and the Tibetan plateau. Thus the map covers almost the entire Asian continent, and consists of 103 sheets using the traditional Chinese rectangular-grid mapping system modified to suit longitude and latitude.
103 sheets, arranged in 13 horizontal strips. Also uses oblique grids and is divided into 13 horizontal strips, each of five degrees of latitude, with 7.8 cm between latitude lines. Original version: Qing Qianlong Neifu yutu. China : engraved by Michel Benoist on copper plates in 1773 and printed in 1775. Based on earlier map "Huangyu quanlan tu."
Scale: ca. 1:1,500,000

References:
Theodore N. Foss, “A Western Interpretation of China: Jesuit Cartography” in East Meets West (1988), pp. 109-251.
Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese history, a manual (2000), p. 148.
Joseph Needham, Science & civilisation in China (1954), v. 3, pp. 583-586.
N. Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China (2001), p. 700, 759-763.
J.B. Harley and David Woodward. The history of cartography (1987), v. 2.2
Ad Dudink & Nicolas Standaert, Chinese Christian Texts Database (CCT-Database)