Atlas du Monde Vivant
Open it anywhere and the living world opens with it. This 1982 Fernand Nathan atlas combines geography, wildlife and vegetation in a large illustrated hardcover. French text accompanies colour maps, landscape photographs and detailed natural-history diagrams.
The title, Atlas du monde vivant, captures the book’s focus on environments and their inhabitants. Its pages connect physical landscapes with plants, animals and the conditions supporting them. The result is a visually varied reference volume with a distinctly early-1980s presentation.
Maps and Landscapes
A striking double-page world map uses an interrupted projection over a photographic desert background. French labels identify continents, oceans and geographical features. Warm land colours contrast with pale blue seas and the surrounding landscape.
The African desert spread brings together rock formations, dunes, wildlife photographs and illustrated terrain diagrams. Smaller maps locate the environments discussed in the accompanying text. Camels, reptiles and desert plants appear alongside explanations of these dry landscapes.
Another spread explores the Indonesian archipelago through maps, photographs and illustrations. A large lake photograph sits beside images of tropical animals and flowers. These varied layouts encourage browsing while keeping each subject visually connected.
Plants, Animals and Ecology
The vegetation section combines botanical drawings with insects, soil profiles and a colour-coded world map. Flower diagrams illustrate plant structures and pollination. Cutaway drawings reveal layers beneath the ground.
These pages give the volume an appeal beyond conventional cartography. Maps establish location, while photographs and drawings explore the living environments within those places. Readers interested in vintage educational illustration will find several contrasting graphic approaches.
Illustrated Hardcover
The glossy front cover combines a relief map with wildlife photographs and bold blue lettering. Giraffes dominate the lower image, beneath smaller photographs of birds, a flowering cactus and other animals. The blue rear cover continues the photographic theme around a small world map.
The volume contains 110 pages and measures approximately 25 × 33 × 2 cm. Its generous format gives the illustrations room to remain clear. French-language text runs throughout the book.
Condition
Fair to good overall, with a cracked binding and blue exterior tape repair. The pages remain held together, but the weakened spine requires careful handling.
The covers retain vivid colours, with edge wear and surface marks. Interior pages show age-related toning, while photographs, illustrations and text remain clear. All 110 pages are present, with no interior tears or missing pages.
Key Details
Title: Atlas du monde vivant
Publisher: Fernand Nathan
Year: 1982
Language: French
Format: Illustrated hardcover atlas
Subjects: World geography, wildlife, vegetation, ecology and natural history
Illustrations: Colour maps, photographs and explanatory diagrams
Pages: 110, complete
Dimensions: Approximately 25 × 33 × 2 cm
Condition: Fair to good, with cracked binding and blue exterior tape repair
SKU: 2C165
Why It’s Special
This atlas brings maps and natural history together rather than treating them as separate subjects. Its desert-backed world map is especially distinctive. The combination of wildlife photography and explanatory drawings makes it an engaging vintage illustrated reference.
