My First Map

If you took a minute to visit my "Why I'm Mappy" page you'll have seen that my first ever antique map purchase was from and is of Paris, though it's actually titled: "Seine".

I doubt that this is a particularly rare or valuable map, but I know very little about it, and my normally good online map research skills have come up a bit short.


The map indicates that it's from France's Atlas Departemental, and upon closer look it's clear that this is not really a map of Paris, but really of it's environs.



If you look at the center of the map, what would be the core of Paris, there's very little detail. There are a few clues to the maps age though. The first being the really gorgeous view at the top of the map.

It has images of "les Invalides" and Notre Dame, but not the Eiffel Tower, which was built in the late 1880's. Also, a close look at the map seems to show some rail-lines, which weren't built before the 1830's, so the map is probably somewhere in that range. The map also includes some statistics about Paris, and notes that it's population is 815,000 inhabitants. That helps me date the city too, since Wikipedia suggests that that last time the city had that sized population was around the mid-1830's.

Stats on Paris, showing 815,000 inhabitants

I don't know if this is the prettiest, or most interesting map in my collection, but it has a special place in my heart because it was the one that started it all for me.

Another thing I love about this map is that there are some places where it's been, at least a little, marked-up. It's one of those reminders that this is a piece of history and that I am certainly not the first to have owned it.

A rail-line and some markups

I'd be thrilled to have anyone with any insights tell me more about it.