Map of Paris Metro (R3453) - Mellottee / Gaillac-Monrocq - Circa 1945

The three part folding map measures - Vintage Map of Paris Metro by Mellottee (R3453)

The firm of Gaillac-Monrocq dates back to 1860, when it began as Monrocq frères. This company specialised in Moroccan cartography and also produced several desirable travel posters.

Monrocq, Jean Noël (December 25, 1819 - February 18, 1913)

Was a French printer and bookseller active in Paris in the mid to late 19th century. Monroca was born on Chrismtas day, hence his name, in Trelly, La Manche, the son of a farmer. In 1839 he moved to Paris for a more urban lifestyle. Although he had little formal edu-cation, he found work with the Parisian book and print seller Delarue. Meating some success, he opened his own print shop in 1848. He initially applied for a bookseller’s patent in 1853, but the application was initially rejected. It was formally approved in 1877. In 1859, he received a lithographer’s patent for artistic and industrial prints for education purposes. He took over the presses of Louis Etienne Stanislas Petit in 1859 but did not relieve a formal intaglio imprint until 1865. In March 1874, he established a branch of his lithographic printing press in Ivry, Rue de Vitry, where he moved part of his equipment. He became known for zinco-graphic lithography - the process of etching plates into zinc, which he claimed falsely to have invented. He did nonetheless, contributed significantly to the industrialization of the printing with zinc plates. Being cheap, simple to make, easy to modify, zinc plates became the standard for news printing. Zincography under Monroca was also ideally suited to map production. The Monroca produced a significant corpus of maps. The firm spearheaded the movement to centralize map production in France. The firm continued well after his death, issuing maps for both Hachette Taride. For a long time, his son, Léon Monroca (1857 - 1902) worked with him specifically printing maps, unfortunately he died young. The firm for a time was operated by the founder's son-in-law, who took the name Gaillac-Monrocq. Jean Noël Monrocq's grandson Lucien Monroca, eventually took over the publishing arm of the firm.