A style of ornamentation evolving from the baroque in early 18th-century France distinguished by refined use of scrollwork, seashells, foliage and so on. Sometimes maps usually found in atlases were also separately sold to customers who did not need an entire atlas. Separately issued maps tend to be in poor condition since they were not protected inside a book. All impressions printed from a given plate, without deliberate alteration of that plate, belong to the same state. If the plate is altered, for example, by adding a new place name or changing the date, impressions from that plate constitute a new state.
Some maps have a dozen or more states.
States are usually numbered serially. When giving a state number, one should specify who numbered the states, since different authorities often have different numbering. The reverse or opposite side of the sheet from the image of interest. Many maps from atlases have text on the verso. Also the left-hand page of an open book.