LATTRÉ, J. / Gervais de PALMEUS. - Plan général de la ville capitale de Malte dressé sur les memoires des grands officiers de l'Ordre, dédiée et présentée à S.A.S. Mgr le prince de Conty, prince du sang, grand prieur de France. . .

First edition of this attractive large scale plan of Valetta on Malta. To the left and right a numbered key 1 - 269. In lower left, a title cartouche with a dedication to " S.A.S. Mgr le Prince de Conty, Prince du Sang, Grand Prieur de France". Louis-François de Bourbon, Prince de Conti (1717-1776), grandson of Louis XIV and cousin of Louis XV, distinguished himself in particular as a military leader to finally join the opposition by becoming Grand Prior of France at the Temple. In a cartouche lower right, with the coats of arms of Malta, a dedication to Manuel Pinto da Fonseca (1681 – 1773) who was a Portuguese nobleman, the 68th Grand Master of the Order of Saint John, from 1741 until his death. He undertook many building projects, introducing the Baroque style throughout Malta.
The cost of these projects contributed to bankrupting the Order in the decades following his death. His views were comparatively liberal. In 1764, he agreed to the re-unification with the Protestant Prussian branch of the Order, without, however, receiving the approval of Pope Clement XIII. The pope did agree, reluctantly, to the expulsion of the Jesuits from Malta in 1768.