Michel-Etienne Turgot. Plan de Paris. 1739.

Turgot, Michel-Etienne; Louis Bretez (cart.), Claude Lucas (engr.) Plan de Paris Commencé l'Année 1734. Dessiné et Gravé, sous les ordres de Messire Michel Etienne Turgot, Marquis de Sousmons Seigneur de S.t Germain sur Eaulne, Vatierfille, et autres Lieux, Conseiller d'Etat, Prevôt des March.ds… Achevé de Graver en 1739   [Paris?: no publisher, 1739–1740]. First edition.  20 sectional mapsMichel-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 nece