Meretseger Books

Voyage pittoresque ou description des Royaumes de Naples et de Sicile

SAINT-NON Jean-Baptiste Claude Richard

Item #M6967

Extremely rare complete set of 5 volumes, including the rare "phallus plate", in an extraordinary contemporary full leather binding with gold ornaments to the covers and spines. Clousier, Paris, 1781-1786. First edition. Folio, 505 x 320 mm. Volume I: Première partie du premier volume, contenant un précis historique de leurs révolutions. Les cartes, plans & vues du royaume & de la ville de Naples. Ses palais, ses églises, ses tombeaux. Ses poètes, peintres & musiciens célèbres. Le Vésuve, avec l'histoire de ses éruptions les plus connues. Les moeurs & usages du peuple napolitain, ainsi qu'une idée de son gouvernement, du commerce & des productions naturelles de ce pays. Volume I, 2: Seconde partie du premier volume, contenant une description des antiquités d'Herculanum, des plans & des details de son théâtre, avec une notice abregée des différens spectacles des anciens. Les antiquités de Pompeii. La description des Champs Phlegréens, & enfin celle de la Campanie & des villes des environs de Naples. Volume III: Troisième volume, contenant le voyage ou circuit de la partie méridionale de l'Italie, anciennement appelée Grande-Grèce. Volume IV, 1-2: Quatrième volume, contenant la description de la Sicile. Premiere et seconde partie. Volume I: 6, XIII, 3, 252 pages, 50 plates, including 3 geographical maps. Volume II: 4, XXVIII, 283, 9 pages, 83 plates, of which 2 geographic maps. Volume III: 4, IV, 22, 4, XL, 201, 3 pages, 63 plates. Volume IV: 6, XVIII, 4, 266 pages, 72 plates. Volume V: pages 4, IV, 3, 268-429, 1, with 35 plates. Vignettes on the title-pages with head-pieces, end-pieces and ornaments engravings. The second part of the first volume takes the place of the second volume. Name of the tipograph Clousier in the colophons of vol. 1.2, 3 and 4.2. In total 303 Plates, each protected by an original tissue paper, some with coeval coloring. A fine set. Particular specimen, with the vignettes depicting ancient vases in splendid coloring that perfectly reproduces the refined ancient artifacts and with the famous plate of "Phallus" in the second volume, often missing due to censorship by the King of Naples. Magnificent figurative work, printed on laid paper, with the plates, some of which folded, engraved by the major French artists and taken from the original drawings of Fragonard, Hubert Robert and other eminent painters. They depict views, monuments, ruins, art objects, medals and maps. Cohen-De Ricci 928-930; Ray, French, 34; Blackmer 1473, 62-63. Millard, French 148: «the completed work is one of the most beautiful that a private person has ever produced, and it is unparalleled among the sumptuous voyage pittoresque publications». As Blackmer notes, Saint-Non's Voyage 'was the first work of its type to appear in France and it created a vogue', exemplified by the works of Houel, Choiseul-Gouffier, Cassas and others. Saint-Non, a gifted amateur engraver, travelled extensively in Italy, and planned this work with the collaboration of gifted friends. Cassas, Duplessi-Bertaux, Fragonard, Houel and Hubert-Robert all contributed drawings, while Denon commissioned local artists to produce drawings of significant sites that the principal artists could not visit. Publication was by subscription in fascicules, but Saint-Non was ruined by the expense. Language: French. Relevant subjects: Rome, Greece & Aegean.

Language: French.

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