CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER. - Lot 183

CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER. VOYAGE PITTORESQUE DE LA GRECE. Paris, sans nom, 1782-1809-1822. 3 parts in 2 volumes in folio, porphyry calf, gilt lace framing the boards, highly ornate ribbed spine, red edges (period binding). ORIGINAL EDITION of one of the most beautiful works on Greece, and "Sous le rapport de la gravure, la plus admirable production de ce genre" (Brunet). The work is adorned with a portrait of the author engraved by Dien after Boilly, two folded maps of ancient and modern Greece, a double-page table and nearly 300 subjects printed on 168 hors-texte plates, some of them double-page, and numerous pictorial bands, culs-de-lampe and title vignettes. All these finely engraved plates, based on drawings by Choiseul-Gouffier, Hilair and Moreau, feature numerous views, maps and plans, and show mostly events of the period, picturesque scenes, Greeks and Turks in costume, craftsmen and dignitaries.... A first-edition copy (of 3) with the keynote address from volume 1, which ends on page 16, fourth line, with the words Exoriare aliquis. Several small light brown spots. (Cohen, 238, 239) (Brunet I, 1847). A FINE COPY ELEGANTLY BOUND IN THE PERIOD.