BRETEZ (L.). Plan de Paris commencé l'année 1734,... Lot 26

BRETEZ (L.). Plan de Paris commencé l'année 1734, dessiné et gravé sur les ordres de Messire Michel Étienne Turgot... levé et dessiné par Louis Bretez. S.l.n.d., [1739], in-folio, red morocco, gilt roulette around the boards, arms in the center, spine decorated with a fleur-de-lys repeated several times, gilt edges (period binding). Collation: 20 plates, 1 assembly plan. Superb bird's-eye view of exceptional quality. Turgot (1727-1781), the Provost of Paris, realized that the geometric plans of the time were no longer arousing the curiosity of the king's subjects and foreigners alike. In January 1734, he commissioned Louis Bretez (16?-1738), professor of perspective and architecture at the Académie Saint-Luc, to produce a plan using an archaic form of representation, "en vue de perspective et d'élévation" ("in perspective and elevation view"). His task was to include "all churches, buildings, squares, fountains and other public monuments, all palaces, hotels and private houses, well and duly distinguished". Comprising twenty sheets and an assembly plan, two thousand six hundred copies were printed. Like the Cabinet du Roi, it was widely distributed, particularly abroad, to promote Paris and France. Copy with the coat of arms of the city of Paris. The plans are generally well preserved, with one small tear at the folds of the 19th. The binding shows the usual flaws: epidermis, rubbing, stains, traces of wear. Dimensions: 555 x 440 mm. Boutier, Les Plans de Paris des origines (1493) à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, BNF, 2002, pp. 252-256, no. 219; Bonnardot, Études archéologiques sur les anciens plans de Paris, BHVP, 1994, pp. 199-203; Le Moel, Paris à vol d'oiseau, DAAP, 1995, pp. 95-111 ("More than two hundred and fifty years after its publication, Turgot's perspective plan of Paris still stands out as the most beautiful image of the capital ever produced"); BAL, I, 37.