[Paris?: no publisher, 1739–1740]. First edition. 

20 sectional maps

Michel-Étienne Turgot (1690–1751), Marquess of Sousmont and the de facto mayor of Paris — Prévôt des marchands or merchants’ provost — from 1729 to 1740 is best remembered for his commissioning of a plan of the city unlike any that preceded it. Its scale — over 8’ tall and 10’ wide — and precision (rendered at a scale of ca. 1:400) are almost incalculable. Turgot commissioned Louis Bretez (†1737) to resurvey the city, giving him leave to enter structures and estates to carry out detailed measurements and drawings — a task that took fully two years.

This was a project of civil pride rather than necessity, and so of course it gained a great many supporters and sponsors at a great rate, whose names appear in the cartouche after Turgot’s:

     Henry Millon, Exquier Con.^er du Roi, Quartinier, Philippes le Fort, Ex.^er Jean Claude Fauconnet de Vildé, Ec.^er Con.^erdu Roi, et de la Ville, Acovat en la Cour Expéditionnaire de Cour de Rome; Claude Augustin Josset, Ex.^er Con.^er du Roi Acovat en la Cour Expédit.^re de Cour de Rome; Echevins de la Ville de Paris Antoine Moriau, Ec.^er Procureur et Avocat du Roi, et de la Ville, Jean Baptiste Julien Taitbout, Chevalier de l’Ordre du Roi, Greffier en Chef, Jacques Boucot, Chevalier de l’Ordre du Roi, Receveur.

With such endorsements and access, Bretez and his engraver Claude Lucas have created an intimate portrait of a vanished city; the destruction of the Revolution and the rebuilding of Hausmann under Napoleon III would fundamentally reshape the City of Light.