Le Caire

Imposing French folding wall map of Egypt drawn by Richard de Regnauld de Lannoys de Bissy as part of his monumental map of Africa. Original hand colour.

de Bissy was a French army officer in the Corps of Engineers. He was stationed in Algeria and whilst there, realised the French army was severely lacking in comprehensive maps of Africa. He set about gathering material to correct this lack and after being transferred back to France, began to prepare what would ultimately become the first map of the continent on a scale of 1:2,000,000; in other words, one centimetre was the equal of twenty kilometres.



The map took eight years to prepare (from 1881-9), and during this period de Bissy contacted historians, writers, travellers and explorers for contributions to his project. In 1889, the map was finally published by the Service Géographique de l'Armée to enormous acclaim. De Bissy was made an officer of the Legion d'Honeur and awarded multiple medals from geographical societies.



This map was also issued by the Service Géographique de l'Armée on a scale of 1:2,000,000 but with a publishing date of 1883, suggesting that de Bissy must have provided sections of his map before the final completion date of 1889. The detail is extraordinary: there are multiple caravan routes and tracks of many explorers, including Heinrich Burckhardt, Friedrich Rohlfs and Sir Archibald Edmonstone. The rail network, at this point between Alexandria and Siyout or modern Asyut is clearly marked, including the sophisticated network within the Nile Delta. The newly built Suez Canal is shown. Above all, the engraving is used to indicate the topographical contrast within the landscape to great effect.



A very fine example in original printed colour. Folded. [AFR5861]