Colossal antique engraved wall map of Paris, presented here as a 30-sheet atlas, prepared by Jean-Baptiste Michel Renou de Chauvigné dit Jaillot.
The wall map atlas is a fascinating repurposing of an earlier project by Jaillot; from 1772-74 he prepared plans of the 20 quarters of Paris in 25 sheets. As these sheets focused on individual quarters they did not easily fit together to make a large wall map of the city. They were published in his Recherches critiques, historiques et topgraphiques sur la ville de Paris, depuis ses commencements connus.
Although the plates from Jaillot's earlier work did not neatly fit together to create a general map, they could be carefully cut down and pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle to accomplish this result. In 1777 and 1778, he did just that and issued the map in this new format. This explains why the maps in this atlas have strange cuts and joins, unlike what one normally sees when a multi-sheet map is composited.
The map is remarkably detailed, with buildings, streets, plots, gardens, etc. all carefully laid out. The map is surrounded by a beautiful trompe l'oeil frame.
Rarity
OCLC locates only five examples: Institute National d'Histoire de L'Art (494357894 / 25859649), Bibliotheque d'Art et D'Archeologie (25859649), Biblioteca Nacional de Espana (740400946), Bayerische Statsbibliothek (165631708), University of Pennsylvania (63550788).