Pierre Jacotin

Pierre Jacotin (1765–1827) was named director of all the surveyors and geographers working in the Nile Valley in 1799 during the campaign in Egypt of Napoleon. Later on, he also prepared maps of Palestine during Napoleon’s campaign there.

After his return from Egypt, Jacotin worked on preparing the plates for publication, but in 1808 Napoleon formally made them state secrets and forbade publication. This was apparently connected with Napoleon’s efforts at the time to establish an alliance with the Ottomans. It was not until 1817 that the engraved plates could be published.