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Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887-1965) was a pioneer of modern architecture, best known for the use of reinforced concrete buildings to meet the housing needs of growing urban populations. His career spanned five decades, and 17 of his architectural works are recognized by UNESCO as World Heritage sites. His work largely influenced the later Brutalist movement and has been both highly praised and savagely critiqued.

Corbusier’s embrace of concrete likely began with his apprenticeships under Auguste Perret, a pioneer of reinforced cement, between 1907-1910. In 1915, Corbusier conducted a study of reinforced concrete, finding that it was both an affordable solution to the lack of housing following the ravages of the First World War. He also found it to be extremely adaptable, capable of being worked into shapes not attainable with steel, wood or other existing structural materials.

Corbusier himself has also been a controversial figure. Some argue he displayed anti-Semitic and/or fascist leanings, though he never joined a fascist organization. Others critique his indifference to pre-existing architectural and other cultural norms. On the other hand, in his Le Corbusier: A Life, author Nicholas Fox Weber writes that “Le Corbusier was a combination of blind and naïve about all politics.”

Notations in the lower-left margin suggest that no fewer than 5000 copies of the map were printed in 1951, another 5000 in 1952, and 3001 in 1953. For all that, the map appears to be very rare, at least in the West: Including revisions of 1953 and 1954, I find a total of six institutional holdings in OCLC and no record of its having appeared on the antiquarian market. A disclosure is in order, however: At the time of writing I hold three examples, including two of the 1953 edition in comparable condition and one of the 1951 first edition in lesser condition but with provenance to John Reps, the noted Cornell scholar of urban cartography and planning.