Carte de France de l'origine des prostituées à Paris [Map of France showing the origin of prostitutes in Paris]
- Title:
- Carte de France de l'origine des prostituées à Paris [Map of France showing the origin of prostitutes in Paris]
- Alternate Title:
- The Origin of Prostitutes in Paris
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Parent du Châtelet, Alexandre Jean-Baptiste
- Other Creators:
- Delahoese (engraver)
Stapleaux, Michel Ghislain (lithographer)
- Date:
- 1836
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1047.01
- Collection Number:
- 8548
- File Name:
- PJM_1047_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1800 - 1869
- Subject:
- Poverty/Prostitution/Crime
Unusual Graphics/Text - Measurement:
- 20 x 26 (centimeters, height x width)
- Description:
- Translated title: "Map of France of the origin of prostitutes in Paris"
- Notes:
- The period from about 1840-1900 has been called “The Golden Age of Statistical Graphics,” a time when scientific innovation, newly available data and the development of lithography combined to create a breakthrough in the way complex information was communicated and understood. Friendly 2008, 2. The French were leaders in this area; they gathered extensive statistical information, particularly about crime (ibid. 4-5), and in 1826 Charles Dupin published the first "choropleth" map of the kind shown here. Wallis 1987, 18; Vaughan 2018, 172-73. A choropleth map is one marking geographic areas with different patterns or shading representing differing statistical values.
Two of these new maps appear in a work published by A.J.B. du Châtelet in 1836, De la Prostitution dans la Ville de Paris, "supported by statistical documents drawn from the archives of the Police Prefecture." The first of these, ID #1047.01, is a "Map of France showing the origin of prostitutes in Paris." It can be seen as an example of the concern that "Machiavellian bias can easily manipulate the message of a choropleth map." Monmonier 1989, 42. In this case, for example, the data show that 10 or fewer prostitutes from 29 Departments had been recorded by the Paris police during the period 1816-1831, but the map shows only one Department in white, the one with zero recorded prostitutes. The use of relatively darker tones or denser patterns for relatively lower numbers of prostitutes would increase the impression of the problem presented by rural prostitutes in Paris, and conversely.
The second map, ID #1047.02, Distribution of Prostitutes in each of the 48 quarters of Paris, shows "an ostensibly neutral picture of the spatial distribution of data on the relative density of prostitute populations across Paris that had been provided by its police force." Vaughn 2018, 173. The map "solidly supported the connection . . . between disciplines such as history, ethnology, empirical sociology, and urban cartography." Picon 2003, 147. At the same time, this map has been used as a paradigm of 19th century maps that are not "neutral illustrations, but were primarily conceived as arguments in scientific or ideological debates, and . . . their sign system played a major role in their persuasive effect." Palsky 2008, 413.
For other maps in the collection using similar techniques, Search > "choropleth."
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Parent du Châtelet, A.J.B. (1836). De la Prostitution dans la Ville de Paris considérée sous le rapport de l'hygiène publique, de la morale et de l'administration
ouvrage appuyé de documens statistiques, ... précédé d'une notice ... sur la vie ... de l'auteur par F. Leuret. Paris. - Cite As:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography, #8548. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- P.J. Mode collection of persuasive cartography
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.