Rocque’s rare plan of Paris and the surrounding countryside.

Rocque states upon the plan that it has “been reduced to the same scale as that of London and the Country round it Surveyd, and Published in 16 Sheets by Mr John Rocque 1748”. The aforementioned plan covered almost twice the area of the present map (some ten miles round), with the surveying work having been carried out by Rocque himself. For the companion map Rocque has utilised Captain Roussel’s survey of the city and its environs first published in 1730, and printed on nine sheets.

John Rocque, a French Huegenout, emigrated with the rest of his family to London in the 1730s, where he began to ply his trade as a surveyor of gentleman’s estates, with plans of Kensington Gardens, and Hampton Court, soon catching the attention of many of the countries aristocracy. However, in 1737 he applied his surveying skills to a much great task, that of surveying the entire built-up area of London. Began in the March of 1737, the map would take nine years to produce, eventually being engraved upon 24 sheets of copper and published in 1746. Whilst engaged upon this project Rocque also surveyed the the country ten miles round London, the companion piece to the present map.