1904 Bernadine Bechet Map of Paris, France

An uncommon 1904 map of Paris from the French publishing house Bernardine-Bechet. The map covers the embastilled center of Paris with each of the ring forts identified. All streets, bridges, monuments, and parks noted. Presents a post Haussmann vision of Paris with congested streets being replaced with broad avenues and open plazas. Monuments, including the Eiffel Tower, and rendered pictorially. The map is divided into a numbered grid which corresponds to a street and place name index to the right and left of the map proper. This is one of the last published maps of this style, which is notable due its focus on a fortified center, identified ring forts, monuments depicted pictorially, and hand-colored with green, blue, yellow and pink pastels. This basic design originated around 1850 and was popular throughout the second half of the 19th century. In the early 20th century this traditional Paris tourist map was updated with a more contemporary look printed with a modern multicolor technique.