Égypte. Atlas annexé au mémoire sur la communication de la Mer Rouge à la Méditerranée [Egypt. An atlas accompanying an article about connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean]. Publisher and place of publication not indicated. [Paris?], 1802. French.
A folio atlas with five engraved plates: a hydrographic map of Egypt; a map of the Isthmus of Suez, a map and view of the area of Moses' Springs (Fontaine de Moïse), a chart of the various water levels along the Isthmus of Suez and a map of Alexandria.
The atlas was meant to accompany an article by the French engineer Jacques-Marie Le Père (1763-1841) which was written at the request of Napoleon Bonaparte and which examined the possibility of constructing a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, where today the Suez Canal passes. Le Père's article rejected the possibility of constructing a canal; however, fifty years later, it served engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps as the basis for his plans of the Suez Canal.
Le Père's article and the plates that appear in the atlas before us were published together in the series of books "Description de l'Égypte" [Description of Egypt], which was published during the years 1809-1829 and was the product of the work of more than a hundred scholars who participated in Napoleon's Campaign in Palestine during the late 18th century.
[1] leaf (title page and list of plates), [5] engraved plates. Volume: 53 cm. Four 52X66 cm plates and two approx. 65X100 cm plates (folded into four). Red cardboard binding, blank. Good overall condition. Stains (mostly to margins). Worming, mostly minor; some restored with pieces of paper. Label on the inside front binding. Blemishes to binding.