Including 6 American City Plans -- "Washed with a Brush"
A Remarkable Full Color Rarity
Fine example of Georges Louis Le Rouge's miniature atlas of the fortification of the most important French seaports (including New Orleans, Quebec, Louisbourg, Fort Dauphin, Cayenne, and Ville Marie (Montreal), fortified cities on rivers and other important fortifications, including Bordeaux, Monaco, St. Tropez, Isles St. Marguerite, Antibes, Toulon, Perpignon, Oleron, La Rochelle, Nantes, Belle-Isle, St. Malo, Dieppe, Havre de Grace, etc.
The work includes 89 plates featuring over 130 bird's-eye plans of French and French Colonial fortified cities and islands. The plan include possessions outside of France, such as New Orleans, Montreal, Quebec, Louisbourg, and Cayenne.
The present example is a very early printing of the atlas in sepia, which has been elegantly finished in wash colors by hand. While the book itself is not rare, we are aware of only a single example which has been similarly colored (Christies 2019). All other known examples are uncolored, with the copper plates engraved with additional details for image contrast purposes.
Ours is the only known example with a colored title page.
Ville Marie / Montreal
In the early 18th century, the name "Montreal" (which originally referred to the mountain Mont-Royal) gradually replaced that of Ville-Marie.
The original fortifications of Montreal, erected in 1717 by Gaspard Chaussegros de Léry, formed the boundaries of Montreal at the time. De Léry had the fortifications constructed to secure the settlement from British invasion and to allow future expansion inside the walls.