1823 Martin City Plan or Map of Paris, France

This is an 1823 Alexandre Martin city plan or map of Paris, France published at the height of the Bourbon Restoration. Centered on the Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame Cathedral, numerous important locations are identified, including the Louvre, the Jardin des Tuileries, the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, and the Champ de Mars. Hand coloring outlines the city's twelve mairies municipals and numbers identify forty-eight different neighborhoods, or quartiers. A street index begins along the right side and is completed in the upper left corner.

The Bourbon Restoration

The Bourbon Restoration (1814/1815 - 1830) was a period in French history following the reign of Napoleon I. After Napoleon's second defeat following the Hundred Days, Louis XVI brothers, Louis XVIII and then Charles X, again ruled France. Supporters of the king returned to France from exile and the government turned conservative. Nonetheless, the new constitutional monarchy did not roll back Revolutionary and Napoleonic Era reforms. After Charles X took power, unrest in the country began to rise, culminating in the July Revolution and Louis-Philippe being installed as king. Louis-Philippe's coronation began the July Monarchy.

Publication History and Census

This map was revised and corrected by Auguste Martin, engraved by Drouet, and published by Esnault Jeune in 1823. A 108 catalog compiles by Léon Vallée, a librarian at the Bibliothèque Nationale, notes four editions in 1822, 1825, 1826, and 1827, respectively. Per Vallée, the 1822 edition was published by Esnault Jeune, while the subsequent three editions were published by Daubrée. We have been unable to locate any examples of the 1823 edition in institutional collections and have unearthed only a handful of instances when it has entered the private market.