BRETEZ, Louis / TURGOT. Plan de Paris commencé...

BRETEZ, Louis / TURGOT. Plan de Paris commencé l'année 1734, Dessiné et gravé sous les ordres de Messire Michel Étienne Turgot, prévost des marchands. Paris, 1739. Large folio, red morocco, gilt border, fleur-de-lys at corners, central coat-of-arms of the city of Paris, ribbed spine, fleur-de-lys decorated caissons, gilt edges (period binding). Joints partly split, bottom board partly detached, corners, edges and headband rubbed, boards slightly rubbed, stained and faded. Boards 18 and 19 reunited with large tear in board 18 at mitre continuing horizontally for approx. 35 cm with traces of tape on verso, a few small scattered cracks in margins, paper slightly yellowed. 570 x 450 mm. First edition of Turgot's famous plan of Paris. It consists of a line-engraved assembly plan and 20 superb double intaglio plates, mounted on tabs. Plates 18 and 19 combined into a single fold-out. Plan in "perspective cavalière" surveyed and drawn by Louis Bretez, engraved by Claude Lucas and written by Aubin. Bretez's plan corresponds to Turgot's objectives: it is a theatrical representation to promote the city of Paris and its image. It is a propaganda operation, to the glory of the capital city of the kingdom and of the Provost of Merchants, who has just increased both its size and splendor. Louis Bretez is a professor of perspective and a member of the Académie de peinture. Starting in 1734, he worked for two years on very precise surveys of every street and house, entering courtyards and gardens. In 1736, Claude Lucas was commissioned to engrave the plates, which were not completed until 1739. - Jean Boutier, Les plans de Paris, 219. Expert : Béatrice Loeb-Larocque