[France]. ROBERT DE HESSELN (Mathias); DULAURE (Jacques-Anto - Lot 36

[France]. ROBERT DE HESSELN (Mathias); DULAURE (Jacques-Antoine); DELAHAYE (Guillaume-Nicolas). Nouvelle topographie, premier degré de détail. La France en ses neufs régions. [Paris], 1784. 1 copper-engraved map, 164 x 163 cm. (sheet), mounted on canvas in 9 segments, hand-colored (splitting at folds, wetness, soiling). A curious map of France, both innovative and experimental, conceived by Mathias Robert de Hesseln, geographer to the City of Paris and royal censor. The map itself was drawn by Jacques-Antoine Dulaure and engraved on copper on 9 sheets by Guillaume-Nicolas Delahaye. Hesseln imagined a division of France into standardized squares delineating 9 regions (Nord Ouest, Nord, Nord Est, Ouest, Centrale, Est, Sud Ouest, Sud, and Sud Est), themselves subdivided into regions. This proposal for a new topography is accompanied by an engraved text in the bottom left-hand corner of the document.