1849 Dyonnet and Leroy City Plan or Map of Paris, France

This is a strikingly decorative 1849 Charles Dyonnet city plan or map of Paris, France. Published during the first year of the French Second Republic (1848 - 1852), the map details Paris, highlighting its buildings, parks, avenues, and other sites. Among these are the Jardin des Tuileries, the Champs- Élysées, the Louvre, the Palais du Luxembourg, the Jardin du Luxembourg, and Père Lachaise Cemetery. Streets and avenues are illustrated and labeled throughout. Train stations are illustrated, and rail lines are highlighted. Paris is surrounded by the recently completed Thiers Wall with its 94 bastions numerically identified. An alphabetic street index appears to the left and right, while an index of theaters, town halls, libraries, and museums occupies the upper right. The whole is surrounded by a arresting acanthus border.

The Fortification of Paris

This map illustrates the Theirs Wall five years after it was completed in 1844. Shocked by the seizure of Paris by foreign enemies during the 1814 Battle of Paris, the French King Louis-Philippe (1830 - 1848), conceived of a broad network of walls and forts he believed would make Paris impregnable. The project was met with immediate opposition, some of which claimed that the walls were not defensive but intended to control Parisians in the event of an anti-monarchal rebellion. Nonetheless, under a plan prepared by Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult (1759 - 1861), construction began in 1841. The completed fortifications, named the Thiers Wall after the French Prime Minister at the time, Adolphe Theirs (1797 - 1877), were, at enormous expense, completed in 1844. The walls were 33 kilometers long and consisted of 94 bastions, 17 gates, 23 minor road crossings, and 8 railroad gates. By 1919, advancements in military technology made the walls obsolete, leading to deconstruction by 1929 when they were replaced by the Boulevard Périphérique. .

Publication History and Census

This map was edited by J. Leroy, drawn and engraved by Charles Dyonnet, and printed by Chardon Jeune et Fils in 1849. It is very scarce. We note four examples in OCLC: Boston Athenaeum, the Institut national d'histoire de l'art, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Universitätsbibliothek Basel. An additional example is part of the collection at the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris.