[TURGOT'S PLAN]. BRETEZ (Louis). Plan of Paris begun in 1734. [Paris, 1739]. Large folio, red morocco, gilt palmettes lace, gilt fleurs-de-lis at the corners, coat of arms in the centre, spine decorated with fleurs-de-lis, gilt inner lace, gilt edges (Period binding). First edition of Turgot's famous plan, one of the most beautiful plans of Paris ever produced. It consists of 20 superb double-page plates, drawn by the architect and cartographer Louis Bretez and engraved with etching and burin by Claude Lucas, as well as a line-engraved assembly plan, all mounted on tabs. Plates 18 and 19 are reunited. In 1734, Michel Étienne Turgot, Provost of the Merchants of Paris from 1729 to 1740, commissioned a new plan of the capital in order to promote the city, a "modern project in its desire to propose and impose in France and throughout the world the image of Paris, the universal model of a capital city", writes Pierre Pinon. Louis Bretez worked for two years on the very precise survey and drawing of this plan of Paris and its suburbs, and chose to use the so-called cavalier perspective, with no distance points. In 1736, Claude Lucas was commissioned to engrave the plates with etching and burin. A fine copy bound in red morocco with the arms of the city of Paris. Corners, headpieces and hinges restored, minor scratches on the boards, some plates discreetly repaired. Boutier, n°219 - Pinon, 61.