Paris, A. Nepveu, Libraire, 1814.
6 volumes large 16mo of : I/ (2) ll, xvi pp., 202 pp., (1) l., 11 plates out of texte of which one folding and 2 on double-page; II/ (2) ll., 226 pp., (1) l., 16 plates of which 1 folding and 12 on double-page; III/ (2) ll., 254 pp., (1) l., 19 plates including1 folding and 8 on double-page; IV/ (2) ll., 206 pp., (1) l., 14 plates including 1 folding and 1 on double-page; V/ (2) ll., 249 pp., (1) l., 14 plates of which 1 folding; VI/ (2) ll., 269 pp., (1) l., 10 plates.
Red straight-grained morocco, gilt border and fillets around the covers, decorated flat spines, gilt edges, mutual protective case. Contemporary binding by P. Chilliat.
133 x 80 mm.
First edition of one of the rarest Travels by Breton de La Martinière illustrated with 84 hand-coloured engraved plates, of which 28 folding or on double-page (the frontispiece of part 3 is posterior).
To the 49 engravings borrowed from the English work, of the Travels of Lord Valencia, Norden and Niébuhr, the editor added 35 engravings from original drawings never published. More than half of these 35 drawings are by Monsieur Marcel who drew them himself, or had them drawn in situ, and brought them back to France with many Egyptian curiosities. The other drawings are by Monsieur Rosset, a sculptor from Lyons who visited Egypt few years before the expedition.
Superb copy bound in contemporary morocco signed by Chilliat, a famous binder who was active under the First Empire at 2 rue de la Parcheminerie in Paris.
This kind of copy is rare.
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