Environs de Paris

A finely engraved late-18th-century map depicting Paris and its surrounding region, engraved by Rigobert Bonne, Ingénieur-Hydrographe de la Marine. The map presents Paris as a compact urban center, from which major roads radiate outward to surrounding towns, villages, forests, and estates, including Versailles, Saint-Denis, Vincennes, Sceaux, Saint-Cloud, and numerous smaller settlements.

The Seine River and its islands are carefully delineated, while wooded areas, cultivated land, and road networks are rendered with clarity and restraint, characteristic of Bonne’s scientific cartographic style. The absence of ornamental excess emphasizes accuracy and legibility, reflecting Enlightenment ideals of geographic precision.

The plate is marked “Supplément 121”, indicating publication as part of a supplementary series to an 18th-century French atlas. Maps by Bonne were widely issued in contemporary geographical works, including atlases associated with the Vaugondy tradition and major French encyclopedic publications of the period.

This map documents Paris and its environs on the eve of the French Revolution, preserving the city’s pre-industrial scale and landscape prior to the extensive urban transformations of the 19th century. It offers valuable insight into ancien-régime infrastructure, transportation routes, and suburban development, and stands as an excellent example of late Enlightenment French cartography.