Adour - Bayonne - Capbreton - Lot 305

Adour - Bayonne - Capbreton CUZACQ (René) En marge d'une vieille carte: Le lit ancien de l'Adour de Bayonne à Vieux-Boucau. Bayonne, imp. du Courrier, 1930. Large booklet in-8, 80pp; one fold-out plate on glossy paper in fine showing the map in question (in 4 strips). Author's autograph letter to Mr Alfred Candessus ("Landais d'adoption"...). Publisher's buff cover. Rare booklet on the former mouth of the Adour, which was diverted to the port of Bayonne. In 1578, Louis de FOIX was commissioned to undertake the public works operation of diverting the Adour from Capbreton to Bayonne, in order to fix its unstable mouth, as the old riverbed was gradually silting up despite Capbreton's efforts to maintain it. It disappeared completely between 1700 and 1800. Lake Hossegor is a vestige of this. However, the subject is still topical today, with regular dredging and desilting operations carried out to combat silting, making access to the port via La Barre rather tricky.