Imagine a combination of several component charts brought together to form a single large one.
Thus began Denis Diderot in his Encyclopedia entry on Jaques Barbeu Dubourg's mechanical timeline, the Carte Chronographique (see on the left). Dubourg's 1753 invention was a 54 foot long annotated timeline rolled into a small wooden container.
More images from Princeton University, where a version of the chronographique is available in the rare books collection (D11 .B37 1753) are available here, here, and here
Although, Dubourg's carte chronographique was not the first timeline, his device included several important innovations. Key among those innovations was an effort by Dubourg to present history with pedagogical intent. Stephen Ferguson, in his 1991 article The 1753 carte chronographique of Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, describes Dubourg's pedagogical thinking as it appered it in a three-part pamphlet that accompanied the chronographique (Dubourg's pamphlet is available online with English translation here). According to Fisher, "Dubourg declares that the two ancillary fields to history ("eyes," he calls them) are geography and chronology. He notes the advanced development of geography as a means of studying history, calling it 'lively, convenient, attractive.'" Dubourg, according to Fisher, called chronology "dry, laborious, unprofitable, offering the spirit a welter of repulsive date, a prodigious multitude of numbers which burden the memory." Dubourg coined the word "chronoghraphie," derived from chronos (time) and graphin (to write) as a way to use the "lively" elements of geography to enhance the labor of chronology.
A horizontal line marked with dates in ten year intervals appears across the top of Dubourg's chronographique. Each of the alternating black and white squares represent years. In his entry for the Encyclopedia, Diderot called this line the scale. Decades are marked above the black and white squared scale and are represented by a line which runs down the page to the bottom. Between these horizontal decade lines are dotted lines descending from the black or white year marks on the scale. Diderot referred to the vertical lines as lines of contemporaneity, suggesting that events and/or people marked on the line were contemporaneous. Below the horizontal year line are successive parallel lines that mark the duration of events. Diderot described the functionality of these parallel lines as follows.
"All the events located on any one of the perpendiculars of the scale began at the same moment in the time-span; all the events located on another perpendicular to the scale which is closer to our own time have continued or ended together. The lines parallel to the scale, contained between two such perpendiculars, indicate the duration of these events; and, since the ends of the two perpendiculars touch two points on the scale at the top, we can see where in the time-span of the world contemporary events have begun and ended. And with the help of other perpendicular and parallel lines, we learn how much before and after one another non-contemporary events have begun and ended; and according to the place that these parallels occupy on the perpendiculars, we ascertain the places in the world where the events have occurred."
Dubourg's pedagogical intentions can also be seen in his focus on people. Ferguson (1991) described Dubourg's approach. "Dubourg's emphasis on people---the Carte displays a great deal of bibliographic material---demonstrates his belief that history is learned through the study of individuals" (p. 197). Dubourg considered his timeline to be an ideal tool for learning history. Ferguson quotes from a second section in the accompanying pamphlet, which was titled Advertissement." Dubourg wrote "Are you reading a book of history? Then to see at a glance world event covered by the book, just roll the Carte to the relevant years and there it is!" Dubourg's pedagogical view of history was summed up at the beginning of his accompanying pamphlet. Dubourg wrote,
But what is History? It is the Compilation of all that eyes have seen, of all that ears have heard; it is a captivating School, where we learn at the expense of our Masters, where we may blame others without any risk to ourselves, where we learn at one and the same time to judge the past, to discern the present and to foresee the future; where our experience is grounded in that of all times, of all countries, of all the ages and states of man’s life; finally, where, as our reason develops and our minds open themselves to truth, morals become gentler and our hearts cleave firmly to virtue.
"All the events located on any one of the perpendiculars of the scale began at the same moment in the time-span; all the events located on another perpendicular to the scale which is closer to our own time have continued or ended together. The lines parallel to the scale, contained between two such perpendiculars, indicate the duration of these events; and, since the ends of the two perpendiculars touch two points on the scale at the top, we can see where in the time-span of the world contemporary events have begun and ended. And with the help of other perpendicular and parallel lines, we learn how much before and after one another non-contemporary events have begun and ended; and according to the place that these parallels occupy on the perpendiculars, we ascertain the places in the world where the events have occurred."
Dubourg's pedagogical intentions can also be seen in his focus on people. Ferguson (1991) described Dubourg's approach. "Dubourg's emphasis on people---the Carte displays a great deal of bibliographic material---demonstrates his belief that history is learned through the study of individuals" (p. 197). Dubourg considered his timeline to be an ideal tool for learning history. Ferguson quotes from a second section in the accompanying pamphlet, which was titled Advertissement." Dubourg wrote "Are you reading a book of history? Then to see at a glance world event covered by the book, just roll the Carte to the relevant years and there it is!" Dubourg's pedagogical view of history was summed up at the beginning of his accompanying pamphlet. Dubourg wrote,
But what is History? It is the Compilation of all that eyes have seen, of all that ears have heard; it is a captivating School, where we learn at the expense of our Masters, where we may blame others without any risk to ourselves, where we learn at one and the same time to judge the past, to discern the present and to foresee the future; where our experience is grounded in that of all times, of all countries, of all the ages and states of man’s life; finally, where, as our reason develops and our minds open themselves to truth, morals become gentler and our hearts cleave firmly to virtue.
References 1991
Ferguson, S. (1991). The 1753 Carte chronographique of Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg. Princeton University Library Chronicle. (Winter). Précis in Historical Abstracts.
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