MAP QUEST

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When asking for directions- Prepare to lose your way.
When consulting a map- Good Luck.
When consulting a friend about a map-You will find just what you are looking for!

photograph by Louise Dahl- Wolfe
Harper's Bazaar October 1951
Mary Jane Russell models DIOR alongside Turgot's Plan de Paris

I will say one thing about the blog world- I have learned LOTS. This is why it is slightly addicting- Slightly?, and you know- if a writer of one-posting with any regularity -of what I speak. After dipping a toe in here and there for a year-stealthily popping in on a two special favourites, I jumped in the ice cold waters of little augury, writing my own posts and becoming a loyal reader of many others. The sphere is covered with them-a MAP is needed. No? Well- if you already have yours- fine. As long as you know the way.

It is much like a boulevard in the great cities- shop after shop-Lure after allure, but when you have a taste for Nougat- you only visit Arnaud Souberyan. Nougat you ask? Yes, addicting, and I somehow feel very of the age when dining and everything surrounding it was Art. The oldest maker of Nougat since 1837-originally situated at 152 Grand Rue, just meander through the Arnaud Souberyan site & you will find the original 1837 recipe, the establishment's location, the history, the-everything you always wanted to know about Nougat-well-Don't be afraid-Ask there.

& so it is with blogs. Some are a passing taste with me-I read and return and then- I don't. Some are Nougat-They are addicting. They are the BEST- they are of the moment's fancy and the timeless tastefulness of experience. You get what you pay for- and in this case it's free. How delicious!

Now back to maps- but it is all intertwined-as You will see.



I do Love maps-terrible at geographies but the lines on a map are of my own heart- Not a straight one on the parchment paper. Not ONE direct path to any hidden away destination that is truly interesting & maps are always full of mystery. Maps are never without a misprinting or three-a slightly misplaced longitude & Well- one never knows where one may end up. Here is where it gets good. For me- a special blog that always has the best of all bread crumbs leading you here and there & always returning you home is the one and only Pigtown* Design.

Perfect example- Around the first few horribly hot days of August- Meg of Pigtown (that's Baltimore to you) posted about something I have seen and wanted-(here) & wanted more than a time or tw0-it was No passing thing. It is the Michel-Etienne Turgot Map of Paris, circa 1739. The original map PLAN TURGOT measures about 8 feet wide x 10 feet high. The map Meg wrote about was a copy- 98" x 60"- and selling at Conran Shops in the U.K. Meg also gave us her original source for the news- a blog called The CORINTHIAN COLUMN. The Corinthian's July 31st post is (here). I immediately went dashing off to Bangkok-this is where the CORINTHIAN lives- No kidding. Other than reading the "Magna Carta" map post, I started sight seeing there and began finding my way to- paintings, antiques, really-all the best stuff imaginable. I immediately knew I would be revisiting Bangkok.



Before I could ask- Now where can I get this MAP?- Meg had updated the post with several other sources for purchasing the MAP.

Along with Meg's directions to the Paris Map, the comments left on the post were inspirations:

Diane Dorrans Saeks-of THE STYLE SALONISTE (here) added "occasionally I will meet French designers or historians or antique dealers who will proudly claim 'this building was on the PLAN TURGOT...which can be helpful for locating specific buildings that were actually there in 18th C." (the SS)
Now here again- THE Saloniste is another of my favourite places. The Saloniste is in San Francisco & in Paris. I love it when she is there and takes us on one of her larks (here) or introduces us to a new design sensation (here) . I have returned to the Saeks Salon countless times to read about Jean- Louis Denoit again & again. I have this spot permanently marked on my map.

Diane in Paris. Her PARIS ADDRESS BOOK is here.



Note: As a reader of my posts, any post-Always read the comments. This is where the MAP many times begins to meander right to your heart's desire.

Around the first few days of September- Meg got her map! (here). I got mine too-actually- I got two- As I often do, One to keep. One to use on a project. I was emailing Meg on occasion at this point about the Map, along with other things- Meg knows about things. Meg graciously and skillfully- I might add- offered to do something very technical with the map for her readers-this technical part- I can not explain & you do not want me to. In this post "Turgot Plan de Paris (1734) ," we hear back from Meg's original source MAP Maker, the CORINTHIAN COLUMN, saying:

Meg - just back from the copy shop and they are printing six sections together from your first file sent to me, (the black & white), and I'm going to use it as a window covering in the guest loo - which is black and white. There was quite a lot of fiddling to do, as they don't match exactly, and when printed up to my size, (enlarged) they may lose their precision, but it might have an unexpected modern art effect, and I like the juxtaposition of the C18th map made into something more modern. It will be ready on Monday, and I will post about it, with a reference to you/your post. I hope my endeavours are not a disaster!! (the CC)

Here are the results in his post " A River Runs through It" dated September 21st-



Tour de force.
Paris in Bangkok, of course with detours along the way, which makes it all the more worth the travel,
the Victoria and Albert & to an auction.



...meanwhile back in Baltimore. Meg is having cocktails & as one often does after one, I believe she said two-she happens upon MOUNTING THE MAP. Meg is tireless, fearless and quite successful with the map mounting.
Brave too.

Voila! Paris in Baltimore. Meg also dropped me off in Herefordshire at the Kilpeck Church here. I fell in love at this church. I went twice to the Hampton Mansion near Baltimore here & here, & so many other places. If you've missed many -you can go back -bread crumbs, but if it just seems too much ground to cover- Start traveling along with Meg starting now. She will never guide you wrong.



Meg got wonderful Kudos! from her readers. Do read all the comments on her post & get an update from the CORINTHIAN.


My map, alas-Looks like this.



Still in a bundle.

But I hope at some point in the road- it will appear as a screen like this one by Jansen, ca. 1950 in the home of Phillips Hathaway. Isn't it wonderful? My little Tudor is threatening to crumble under all things hanging about the walls now-but I somehow feel I have an old house left in me somewhere- so it will travel with me there someday.

photo from katiedid here

(September HG 2006)

& why not stop along the way-

the Man behind the MAP from BibliOdyssey:

"Mayor Michel-Etienne Turgot (Prevot des Marchands de Paris) commissioned Louis Bretez to prepare a map of Paris in 1734. Five years later, twenty engraved sheets (by Claude Lucas) were delivered that measured eight by ten feet when assembled. This is a superb map with incredible detail and the bird's eye view style seems all the more remarkable for having been produced some fifty years prior to the first balloon flight." (B)

& A first edition available (here)



...to be continued, with detours, But did you doubt that for a minute?

UPDATE (10.12.2009-2 PM)- another TURGOT MAP spotted today at the BLUE REMEMBERED HILLS, each element is framed (here).
UPDATE II (10.12.2009- 10:50 PM- TURGOT MAP SITING-by who else MEG of Pigtown*Design at Pat's Addition, "Plan de Paris Vestibule Chez Moi" a very professional job -I might add (here).
UPDATE III (10.13.2009) after a comment about Rome maps- Joni from Texas shows us ROME. another detour that takes us to Cote de Texas (here)

Rome in Texas, Cote de Texas-that is.

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