Voyage dans le Levant en 1817 et 1818
Forbin, [Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste], Comte de
Paris. L'Imprimerie Royale. 1819
Sold
A large copy of the first edition - limited to 325 copies - with uncut sheets.
Forbin had been authorised to purchase antiquities for the Louvre (his son-in-law, Marcellus, expedited the acquisition of the recently discovered Venus de Milo). His party included the artist Prevost and the engineer de Bellefonds. The plates show views in Greece, Constantinople, Acre, Jaffa, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Rama, Gaza, Cairo and Egypt.
This impressive work is a very early example of the use of lithography in France for illustrated books; the standard of production equals that of Napoleon's Description de l'Egypte.
'Ouvrage tiré a 325 exempl.'. Brunet.
'One of the first important French books to use lithography on a grand scale'. (Blackmer).
[Atabey 447; Blackmer 614; Colas 1089; Brunet II, 1337].
Forbin had been authorised to purchase antiquities for the Louvre (his son-in-law, Marcellus, expedited the acquisition of the recently discovered Venus de Milo). His party included the artist Prevost and the engineer de Bellefonds. The plates show views in Greece, Constantinople, Acre, Jaffa, Bethlehem, Jericho, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Rama, Gaza, Cairo and Egypt.
This impressive work is a very early example of the use of lithography in France for illustrated books; the standard of production equals that of Napoleon's Description de l'Egypte.
'Ouvrage tiré a 325 exempl.'. Brunet.
'One of the first important French books to use lithography on a grand scale'. (Blackmer).
[Atabey 447; Blackmer 614; Colas 1089; Brunet II, 1337].
Elephant folio. (742 x 557 mm). Half-title, title with woodcut vignette, leaf with dedication 'Au Roi' (Louis XVIII), leaf with 'Avant Propos', text (pp. 132 including 'Notes Diverses' and the 'Explication des Planches') and 80 full-page plates printed recto only: 70 monochrome lithographs by Engelmann after the Vernet brothers, Fragonard, Legros, Isabey, Deseynes and Castellan among others, eight aquatints by Debucourt after Forbin and two engraved plans ('Plan du Saint-Sépulcre a Jérusalem' and 'Plan d'une des Catacombes de Milo'. (Sheet size: 720 x 530 mm). The lithographs are numbered, signed with the name of the artist, Engelmann, the lithographer and are each captioned below the image; the aquatints are printed without signature or title and are unnumbered. Contemporary red morocco-backed red paper boards, red morocco corner-pieces, title gilt to spines.
#40324
