Architecture treatises, antique plans, urban planning projects, architect drawings and first editions, heritage history

Rare first edition, illustrated with a contemporary photographic print mounted as a frontispiece.

Tears and small losses to the spine, boards slightly faded at the margins, contents in pleasing condition.

No copy recorded in the CCF and only three copies listed in WorldCat (British Library, National Library of Australia, University of California).

Extremely rare pamphlet devoted to the unveiling of the monument to Edward VII erected in the centre of the Champ de Mars in Port Louis.

First edition on ordinary paper.

A fine and rare copy.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine de l'année 1873.

Not in Tailliart.

Front wrapper detached then reattached, losses to the spine, small chips to the corners.

Scarce work illustrated with 14 plates printed hors texte and numbered I–XII (including plates VI bis and ter). Not in Tailliart.

A volunteer in the Corps of Engineers from 1841 onward, Baptiste-Charles Brunon (1821–1888) spent most of his military career in Algeria; after the 1871 war he returned to oversee the Engineering Corps in Constantine.

Rare first edition of this lecture delivered at the Cercle de France in Paris on January 8, 1958, no copy referenced in Worldcat. Light foxing to the front board.

Rare utopian pamphlet celebrating the creation of Brasilia and laying the theoretical foundations for the cities of the future. Inscribed and signed by Robert Miocque to his friend Marcel Dollfus at the top of the first page of text.

Seventh edition, expanded with new annotations and an appendix containing descriptive and historical details on all the monuments recently erected in the capital by J.-L. Belin, avocat.

Bound in contemporary half midnight-blue Russian morocco, flat spines gilt with romantic arabesques, gilt fillet framing the marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; one lower corner lightly rubbed, contemporary bindings.

Scattered foxing.

Illustrated with 58 plates (including 11 archaeological plates), together with 5 folding colour plans hors texte.

A handsomely preserved copy in a period romantic binding.

Rare first edition.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille).

“…their change of residence, abandoning the old city to settle in the new districts? A memoir awarded by the Société académique de médecine de Marseille at its public session of 1 August 1819; (…). Enlarged with the plan of a medical topography of the city of Marseille, which the author proposes to publish.” Marseille, Joseph-François Achard, 1819, 8vo, disbound. Title, 40 pp. Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Marseille). Very rare. The author was a physician attached to the dispensaries and the maternity hospital of Marseille.

Paris, Arthus Bertrand, undated [1861]. One text volume and an atlas.

Very rare first edition of Voyage dans le Haouran et aux bords de la mer Morte, exécuté pendant les années 1857 et 1858.

The text volume, largely unopened, is illustrated with one plate. The atlas, preserved in a full red cloth box and slipcase, is complete with 27 plates, numbered I to XXVI with an...

First edition of this remarkable album devoted to the Island of Elba, published in Paris by Dusacq & Cie in 1862 and printed by Lemercier. Large folio, loose sheets: 4 pp. of text comprising the Notice historique et archéologique sur l'Ile d'Elbe, 1 lithographed dedication leaf and 18 lithographed plates, including the title-frontispiece. The views were drawn from nature by André Durand and lithographed with the collaboration of Eugène Cicéri. The Bibliothèque nationale de France likewise records the work as comprising 18 numbered plates, including the frontispiece.

Handsome and uncommon album comprising 36 vintage silver-print photographs (18.5 × 23 cm, mounted and captioned by hand), depicting exterior views—façades, gardens, and architectural perspectives—of this English neo-Gothic estate built between 1868 and 1872 by Thomas Smith and the Cannes contractor Scavy for one Michael Hugh Scott, who never lived in it: the property quickly passed to the businessman Debionne, who resold it to Lord Wolverton after furnishing and decorating the interior.

Publisher’s blue percaline binding, smooth unlettered spine, blind-ruled frame on the boards, gilt-lettered title to the upper cover, marbled endpapers and pastedowns; contemporary binding.

A...

Exceptionally rare first edition of this remarkable photographic album, printed in Cairo by Mourès & Cie, the press operated by Antoine Mourès. Produced under the direction of Auguste Mariette, it constitutes the first illustrated photographic catalogue of the Boulaq Museum, the first Egyptian museum devoted to Pharaonic antiquities and the direct predecessor of the present Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The work comprises forty albumen prints (approximately 24.5 × 18 cm), mounted on heavy card leaves hinged on guards. Each photograph is accompanied by a printed descriptive leaf - with the exception of plates 4 and 11, which are accompanied by two - the photographs being...

Rare first edition illustrated with 31 figures in the text.

Contemporary half blond calf, the spine slightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, fawn morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper sides, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled comb-marbled edges.

Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), architect to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne.

He was also deeply interested in ancient metrology, on which he wrote several monographs (the final...

Very rare first edition.

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, CNAM).

Half blond calf, spine lightly sunned, with five raised bands decorated with gilt and black fillets, tan morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, mottled comb-marbled edges, original front wrapper preserved; contemporary binding.

The architect of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), undertook several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonika, Smyrna, Alexandria) before being sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne. He also developed a...

First illustrated edition, with four folding plates bound at the end of the volume (cf. Tailliart 1979).

Contemporary half green calf binding, flat spine faded and yellowed, decorated with a gilt cartouche and ornamental tooling at head and tail, caps trimmed, joints fragile, marbled paper boards, hand-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period binding.

Some foxing.

In fact, this pamphlet was intended as the first of a series, hence the general title; however, only this installment was ever published. The secondary title specifies the subject of the volume: "Relation d'une excursion de Bône à Guelma et à Constantine, par sir Grenville Temple et le...

First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this extract from the Revue archéologique.

The booklet is illustrated with several figures in the text and, at the beginning of the volume, a full-page plate.

Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau (1846-1923), orientalist and archaeologist, made major archaeological discoveries in Palestine, where he had resided since 1867 as dragoman-chancellor at the French consulate. Appointed consul in Jaffa in 1881, he accepted a mission on the Egyptian coast east of the Nile, in Philistia, Phoenicia and Palestine; he published the results in the Archives des missions scientifiques.

Until his death, he pursued a dual...

First edition, one of 20 numbered copies on alfa, the only deluxe issue.

Illustrations.

A few very light, insignificant spots of foxing.

A handsome copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket.

First edition and definitive and posthumous edition, arranged in strict chronological order, of a very rare iconographic series whose publication had begun as early as 1806 in somewhat disorderly instalments, but was never completed (only 49 instalments had appeared at the author’s death).

Cf Brunet V, 1453.

Work illustrated with 300 plates: lithographed and watercoloured title-frontispiece and 149 engraved plates, most finely hand-coloured, for the first volume; 150 plates for the second.

Contemporary bindings in half cherry-red morocco-grained shagreen with corners, spines with five raised bands decorated with blind fillets and panels, some minor rubbing to spines...

First edition of this important album devoted to Algiers and several towns of the Regency, published in Paris by Charles Motte in 1835. The work comprises 50 lithographs on mounted China paper after drawings by Émile-Aubert Lessore and William Wyld, printed by Charles Motte. It was first issued in five thematic parts devoted to buildings, landscapes, types and scenes, before being gathered into a single volume. Cf. Gérard Sangnier, Bibliothèque algérienne, no. 207; Playfair, 517; Tailliart, 896; Gay, 919; Brunet III, 1018. Not in Blackmer.

First edition, printed in 500 numbered copies, of this splendid archaeological album featuring 78 in-text illustrations and 13 full-page plates with tissue guards (including 7 double-page or folding plates).

Text by Henri Lechat.

Publisher’s Bradel binding in full forest green cloth, smooth spine, headcaps slightly crushed, one joint split at head, spine and boards ruled in ochre, corners slightly rubbed, bookplate affixed to the front pastedown.

Copy from the library of industrialist Anatole Descamps (1833–1907), with engraved ex-libris by Devambez mounted on the pastedown.

A handsome copy.

First edition, illustrated with 11 double-page folio plates, including 2 plans printed on tracing paper. (Not listed in Hage Chahine.)

The text fascicle is in wrappers and the suite of plates is loose, both housed in the publisher’s original black cloth-backed portfolio with corners, flat spine without lettering, title label centered on the upper board, sand-colored boards showing some stains and scuff marks, with flaps and ties.

On the inside flap of the publisher’s portfolio, autograph inscription signed by Henri Chevrier to Pierre Glénat: "... dans l'espoir de faire un jour sa connaissance sous le soleil der Thèbes..."

First edition of this important series of plates, published in Lyon by Louis Perrin in 1858 following Antoine-Marie Chenavard's journey through Greece and the Levant in 1843-1844.

Folio. 81 steel-engraved plates by various artists, including Dubouchet, after drawings by Antoine-Marie Chenavard and Étienne Rey: a route map, a plan of Athens dated 1843, and 79 plates numbered I-LXXV. The series includes plates LVIbis and LVIIbis, called for in the plate list, together with XXVIIIbis and XLVIIIbis, neither of which appears in the list and both of which occur only in certain copies. The present copy therefore...

First edition, only two copies listed in the CCF (Archives nationales, Arras).

Spine split with some losses. 

Complete with the two successive reports (1 February 1862; 6 June 1863).

Very rare first edition. 

Some light foxing.

Contemporary 19th-century modest half-grained cloth binding, spine faded, marbled paper boards with surface abrasions, yellow endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges. 

Sole edition, uncommon, of this vindication by Jacob Spon (1647-1685) concerning his major travel account of the Levant (Voyage d'Italie, de Dalmatie, de Grèce et du Levant, fait aux années 1675 & 1676), published in 1678.

Very rare first edition illustrated at the end with 4 folding plates (cf Quérard VII, 190).

Modern binding in half mottled sheep with small vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with double gilt fillets, red morocco title-piece, marbled paper boards.

The author was a lawyer and architect in Lunéville.

Chapters on fire, the causes of fires, stoves and chimneys, floors, partitions, staircases, roofing, etc.

Pleasant copy.

First edition, consisting of the facsimile of the author’s autograph manuscript.
Publisher’s binding in full white boards, smooth spine, covers illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
A handsome copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket showing very minor tears and insignificant losses.
Work illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
Rare presentation copy, dated and signed by Oscar Niemeyer to Georges and Alice (Raillard).
Georges Raillard was an art critic and a close friend of Antoni Tàpies and Joan Miró; his wife Alice translated into French the leading Brazilian authors of the second half of the 20th century, such as Jorge Amado.
 

First edition.
Publisher’s full white boards, smooth spine.
A fine copy, complete with its illustrated dust jacket bearing very minor, inconsequential tears.
Illustrated with drawings by Oscar Niemeyer.
Rare signed presentation inscription from Oscar Niemeyer to Henri (Raillard).
 

New edition printed on laid paper.
Some light foxing affecting mainly the endpapers.
Full marbled sheep binding, spine with five raised bands set with gilt garlands decorated with double compartments adorned with gilt typographical motifs, traces of rubbing on spine, gilt rolls on headcaps almost completely faded, triple gilt fillets framing the boards, some scratches on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt edges on leading edges which show some rubbing.
The work consists of 12 parts each comprising 6 engraved plates plus three engraved plates: the half-title page, the title page with a portrait of Gille Marie Oppenort and, finally, a plate with the letter "B"...

First edition of this architectural collection, published in Paris in 1821 by Bance aîné and comprising seventy-two numbered etched plates. These are preceded by two distinct preliminary elements: a letterpress title page giving the author’s name as “Schuelt”, and a fully engraved title with a vignette signed by Henry J. Picou, retaining the earlier title Recueil de divers motifs d’architecture and spelling the name “Seheult”. The coexistence of these forms reflects the historical instability of the family name, which was only gradually standardised as Seheult through subsequent civil-status corrections.

First and only edition of this remarkable lithographed album devoted to Toledo, published in parts at Madrid between 1847 and 1848 under the direction of Doroteo Bachiller, Lithographer to the King, with the collaboration of several distinguished artists, among them José Vallejo y Galeazo, Andreas Pic de Leopold and Luis Carlos Legrand.

Picturesque views of the city alternate with studies of its most remarkable architectural details, forming one of the most ambitious Spanish lithographic enterprises of the mid-nineteenth century. The work is absent from the Katalog der Ornamentstichsammlung of...

First edition of this rare album illustrated with 15 line-engraved plates, each protected by a tissue guard and accompanied by a caption leaf, including a reproduction of the author's portrait drawn by Ingres in Rome in 1818.

Publisher's original full grey boards, flat spine without lettering, some rubbing, blind-ruled borders on covers, a scratch to the foot of the upper cover, central title, corners rubbed.

Some foxing.

Inscribed by Antoine-Marie Chenavard to his friend Antonin L., with the author's signed presentation note.

First edition, cf. Blackmer 133. Not in Atabey.

Contemporary romantic binding in navy-blue half sheep, spine gilt with decorative romantic tools, gilt rolls (partly faded) at head and foot, gilt fillet framing the boards decorated in blind with romantic arabesques, gilt-stamped plaque of the "Lycée impérial du Mans" to upper board, some wear along board edges, endpapers and pastedowns of marbled paper, marbled edges, gilt tooling at head and foot of the boards’ edges mostly rubbed. A handsome romantic binding of the period.

A near-spotless copy, attractively preserved in a period romantic binding.

First edition of this magnificent work, one of Gustave Le Bon’s (1841–1931) contributions to anthropology, in which he applied his pioneering theories to the Arab world. One of the few copies printed on japon paper, unrecorded in bibliographies.

Illustrated with 10 chromolithographs, 4 maps, and 366 engravings, including 70 large plates, after the author’s photographs or the most reliable documentary sources. Cf. Vicaire V, 134.

Contemporary half cherry-red shagreen, spine with five raised bands adorned with gilt fillets and double gilt compartments, double gilt fillet frame on marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, top edge gilt.

Minor...

Very rare collection comprising offprints of original editions of articles and reviews first published in the Journal des savants or the Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient.

Bradel binding in green bottle cloth-backed boards, flat spine decorated with a central gilt ornament and double gilt fillet at foot, red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, some original wrappers preserved, modern binding signed Boichot.

Most of the fascicles are by the Indologist Auguste Barth (1834–1916), one of the founders of the École française d'Extrême-Orient, and the originator of Indochinese epigraphy through his studies of Sanskrit inscriptions in Cambodia. He...

First edition of the first of six publications addressing the state of the Corps of Bridges and Roads, presented to the National Constituent Assembly by Chaumont de La Millière (1746–1803), who served as director of the School from 1781 to 1792.

Contemporary half vellum binding with corners, flat spine with red morocco label, soft marbled paper boards showing some wear and losses from rubbing, yellow edges.

Two additional related publications have been bound at the end:

I. Supplément au Mémoire de M. de La Millière, sur le département des Ponts & Chaussées; ou Réponses à deux écrits relatifs à ce Mémoire, qui ont paru depuis sa publication. Paris, Imprimerie royale...

Handsome suite of 72 engraved plates of ornamentation, including the title page, printed on bluish paper. The first 64 plates feature decorative friezes and motifs characteristic of the Empire style—Neoclassical elements and the so-called “Retour d’Égypte,” adorned with laurel and oak wreaths, imperial eagles, etc. The final 7 leaves display interior arrangements in the style of the period.

Enclosed: the price list for the models offered by the manufactory of Joseph Beunat, recipient of a silver medal for patented inventions.

Contemporary temporary binding in marbled blue paper boards, flat spine with scuffs and small paper losses, red morocco title label, lower corners...

First edition (the work was reissued several times up to 1954), illustrated with a double map as frontispiece and numerous black-and-white in-text illustrations (cf. Hage Chahine 1925).

Contemporary binding in black half shagreen with corners, spine with five raised bands decorated with gilt floral motifs, gilt fillet framing on marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, all edges gilt, original illustrated wrappers preserved in color.

The title is somewhat misleading: the book is not a history of the cult of the Virgin Mary in Lebanon, but rather a richly illustrated travelogue across the country from one sanctuary to the next, featuring nearly 660...

First edition, in its first issue with the imprint of the Imprimerie de Tencé frères, Brussels, 1828. The text volume is illustrated with a portrait of Bernard Eugène Antoine Rottiers, lithographed by J. Van Genk after Sir Thomas Lawrence; the atlas contains an engraved map, numbered 1, and 74 lithographic plates numbered 2 to 75, plate 27 being mistakenly numbered 17. Eight plates are hand-coloured: nos. 28, 41, and 61 to 66. The text volume was reissued in 1830 under a new imprint; the present issue is the true first publication of the work.

The text volume is bound in contemporary half dark green morocco, the spine with four raised...

First and only edition, illustrated with 12 plates including 8 lithographed views and 4 folding tables.

Contemporary half calf binding with corners, spine decorated with triple gilt fillets and large blind-stamped fleurons, minor losses at foot of joints, marbled paper boards scuffed with some surface loss, corners worn, edges sprinkled blue.

Scattered light foxing, mostly at the beginning and end of the volume.

This text constitutes the first draft of what would become, in 1835, the major work Description de Moscou.

The folding map that complements this work was only published in 1825 and is not, strictly speaking, part of this edition.

Lecointe de...

New edition. "American Imprints" 28030. See Lowndes II, 298 for the first edition: "Liveliness of description of scenery and manners, couched in an easy and elegant style…"

Contemporary half havana shagreen with corners, spine decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, rubbed beige morocco label, a few minor scuffs along the spine. Gilt garland borders framing the marbled paper boards, endpapers and pastedowns of rose paper lightly soiled at margins, marbled edges. Late 19th-century binding.

Some occasional foxing.

A good copy.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies on laid paper, extracted from the Journal asiatique; a single copy recorded in the CCF (Strasbourg).

Rare copy preserved in its original blue paper wrappers, as issued.

Traces of a label on the left margin of the front cover, a pleasing copy overall.

Inscribed by Giovanni Antonio Arri on the upper cover to archaeologist Désiré Raoul-Rochette (1789–1854), then a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres.

Rare first edition, privately printed in small numbers, of this offprint from the Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine, vol. XXIV.

Only two copies recorded in the French collective catalogue (BnF and Lyon).

Vertical crease visible throughout the booklet.

Preserved in its original grey paper wrappers, without lettering, with the title and author's name handwritten in pencil.

A member of the Congregation of the White Fathers, particularly active in North Africa, Alfred-Louis Delattre (1850–1932) was first sent as a missionary to Algeria, later becoming chaplain of the Saint-Louis Church in Carthage, and eventually...

First edition of this occasional text, illustrated with 4 plates outside the text.

Spine faintly faded, a rare and attractive copy.

Archbishop of Algiers from 1867, Charles Lavigerie (1825–1892) would become in 1884 Primate of Africa through his exceptional accumulation of titles, including the restored See of Carthage.

He took an early interest in the excavations of the Carthage site.

First edition, printed in very limited numbers, of this offprint from the Revue archéologique, illustrated with 12 textual figures and 3 plates; only two copies listed in the CCF (Quai d'Orsay and Strasbourg).

Contemporary Bradel binding in olive green cloth-backed marbled boards, smooth spine with red morocco title label, original wrappers bound in.

Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829–1914), architect to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was entrusted with several archaeological missions in the East (Thessaloniki, Smyrna, Alexandria), and was later sent by the French government to Jerusalem (1862–1874) to oversee the restoration of the Church of Saint Anne. He also...

Composite copy: the first volume corresponds to the second American edition, which is partially original (with the shortened title Incidents of Travel in Yucatan), while the second is the first edition (with the full title); the text of the first volume being expanded compared to the 1841 edition. This title, originally printed in 15,000 copies, was a tremendous success and saw numerous reprints between 1841 and the author’s death in 1852 (cf. Sabin 91 297 and 91 299).

Illustrated with 96 engravings distributed as follows: 54 illustrations (some full-page in-text), including 21 plates out of text (among them a folding map and a folding frontispiece) for the first volume...

First edition of the French translation of this remarkable study originally published in Vienna in the *Mines de l'Orient*.

The work, translated and enriched with observations and explanatory notes, followed by a dissertation on the location of the Pallacopas by J. Raimond, is illustrated with six folding plates at the end (rather than four, as stated on the title page).

Contemporary binding in green half sheep, spine slightly faded, gilt-stamped with a sphinx, gilt title, cat's-eye marbled paper-covered boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding.

Some foxing, mainly affecting the opening leaves.

Rich provides "une description très détaillée...

 Autograph letter signed by Eugène Delacroix, with autograh date "29 December 1856", one and a half pages on a bifolium, with usual folds. 

A precious letter by Delacroix to his celebrated colleague, who laid out the squares, avenues, and gardens of the capital while the painter adorned its ceilings.

Delacroix here addresses the architect responsible for the embellishment of the Champs-Élysées, the Place de la Concorde, and the Avenue de l'Étoile. As architect to the City of Paris and to the Government, he who drew up the plans for the vast renovations in the Bois de Boulogne and its two lakes. He moved within the painter's circle (his name...

Red-medallion Steamer binding edition (single volume), illustrated with 48 drawings by Léon Benett (40 for the first title and 5 for the second). 

Catalogue FX at end.
Publisher’s full polychrome pictorial boards signed Charles Magnier, headcaps slightly sagging as almost always, upper-cover plaque signed Paul Souze, a few small foxing spots.

A pleasing copy, the binding retaining fine freshness.
Two heirs, one French and one German, divide 500 million francs between them. Each builds a city in keeping with his dreams: the Frenchman an hygienist city, the German a city of steel.

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece in each volume and a folding plate at the end of the first volume.

Bradel-style bindings in brown half cloth with small corners, smooth spines very slightly faded and ruled in gilt, marbled-paper boards with a few minor scuffs, blue-grey endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, bookplates pasted to the front pastedowns.

Some foxing, as usual.

Our copy is complete with all three engravings: a view of St Peter's in Rome and a plan of the remains of ancient Rome in the first volume, and Trajan's Column in the second.

It also includes a second state of the plan of the remains of ancient Rome, with slight variations...

Illustrated edition with 15 colour plates by Charles Jouas, one of 650 numbered copies printed on Imperial Japan paper.

Contemporary brown half morocco-grained shagreen over corners, spine with four raised bands ruled in black, moiré paper-covered boards, endleaves and pastedowns, wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt.

A handsome copy, attractively bound.

A rare original edition, printed in a limited number of copies, of this extract from the Journal asiatique.

The work is illustrated with two folding plates at the end of the volume.

Contemporary half havana calf binding, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, rubbed joints, library classification label pasted at the head of the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges.

The Libyco-Punic monument of Dougga (Tunisia), also known as the Mausoleum of Atban, is one of the few well-preserved examples of Punic architecture still extant. It bore a bilingual inscription (Libyco / Punic) which was clumsily removed from the monument in 1842 by the British...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Bulletin de la Société normande de géographie.

Contemporary-style Bradel binding in full burgundy cloth, spine titled lengthwise, burgundy paper endleaves and pastedowns, wrappers doubled and restored and preserved, modern binding. 

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, Condorcet).

This is the author’s second report delivered before a Norman audience (Pelliot had family ties to Normandy), concerning the 1906–1908 expedition to Chinese Turkestan.

It followed the Paris lecture (Trois ans dans la haute Asie, conférence de M. Paul Pelliot au grand...

First edition.

No copies recorded in the CCF.

A very rare small guide intended for English travellers in the Kingdom of Naples. It opens with an itinerary from Rome to Naples via the monastery of Monte Cassino.

Some foxing, small losses to the spine which also shows a tear at the foot.

First edition illustrated at the end of the volume with 2 folding engraved plates by Gobille after drawings by Guillet, depicting an ancient theatre and a plan of Athens with its surroundings (cf. Blackmer 766. Weber 364. Brunet, Table, 22855.)

Contemporary full brown sheep binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with compartments tooled in gilt, now very rubbed, restorations to the spine and covers.

First historiographer of the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, to which he was admitted in 1682, Guillet de Saint-George (Thiers, circa 1625 - Paris, 1705) became known through several writings, the principal ones relating to Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

Rare first edition illustrated with a portrait frontispiece and a plate printed on a separate leaf with tissue guard depicting the Taj Mahal.

No copies recorded in the CCF.

Small tears to the unlettered spine, boards slightly soiled.

A very rare small travel guide to the city of the Taj Mahal (now in the state of Uttar Pradesh).

Manuscript bookplate "E. Miroir 8 February 1911" in the upper left corner of the title page.

First edition of the final work devoted to the Canary Islands by the zoologist and ethnographer Sabin Berthelot (1794-1880), whose first stay in the islands dates back to 1820.

From that time onward, he resided for the most part in Tenerife and devoted himself to the study of his adopted country.

At the end of the volume, the work is illustrated with 20 plates printed outside the text, some with coloured subjects.

A few minor spots of foxing.

Anonymous manuscript of 23 pages, complete as this first notebook, accompanied by a title leaf bearing a manuscript table of nine articles and entitled Cap de Bonne Espérance. 1er cahier. The title identifies it as a first notebook, although no continuation accompanies the present group. On one page, the text shows a visible revision, with a word crossed out and corrected; the manuscript therefore appears to be a working draft rather than a final fair copy. A small brown stain affects one page of the arrival narrative without impairing legibility.

First edition of the French translation by Grauert from the 1835 German first edition, specially revised by the author (hence the somewhat ambiguous designation of "new edition" on the title page and front board, as there was no previous French edition).

Illustrated with five engraved plates and eight vignette illustrations.

Contemporary half black calf with corners, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt and blind fillets, slight rubbing to the spine, gilt fillet frames to the marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original pink wrappers preserved, bookplate pasted to a pastedown, contemporary binding signed J. Pernot at the foot of the spine.

First edition, printed in a small number, of this scarce offprint from the Revue archéologique, illustrated with 11 figures in the text and 3 folding plates.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (Quai d'Orsay and Strasbourg).

The architect of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christophe-Edouard Mauss (1829-1914), had been entrusted with several archaeological missions in the Levant (Salonica, Smyrna, Alexandria), before being appointed by the French government to Jerusalem (1862-1874) to restore the Church of Saint Anne.

He also developed a keen interest in ancient metrology, on which he published several monographs.

A pleasing copy.

Autograph...

Fine contemporary manuscript plan in colour depicting the region (now within the Var department) extending from Le Thouar in the north to the Château Sainte-Marguerite in the south, of considerable strategic importance as the eastern defensive line protecting the approaches to Toulon.

Fold marks without tears or loss.

Fine hand-coloured manuscript plan depicting the area (now in the Var department) situated north of the village of La Valette (today La Valette-du-Var), extending to the lower slopes of Mont Coudon (702 m).

Creasing to the manuscript sheet.

Manuscript drawing consisting of a coloured sketch of one of the fort’s bastions, with scale in toises.

Construction of the Fort de Lamalgue, situated on the hill of the same name and intended to secure the landward approaches to Toulon while also protecting Fort Saint-Louis (Mourillon), which had been bombarded and abandoned during the siege of 1707, began in 1764 under the direction of Milet de Monville.

Works continued until 1792.

Traces of folding to the sheet.

Second edition, in large part original as it is substantially enlarged (Tulard, 876, for the editions of 1814 and 1818).

Our copy remains sewn in the original plain temporary wrappers.

Backstrips slightly split, a few scattered spots of foxing.

The first volume is illustrated with 4 plates outside the text (including a frontispiece and a folding plan), together with 5 folding tables; the second with 2 engraved plates, one folding table, and, at the end of the volume, a further large folding plan.

This very scarce work expands upon a pamphlet first issued in 1814 (Moscou avant et après l’incendie), devoted chiefly to the burning of Moscow in 1812, of...

Very rare fully mimeographed first edition of this course prepared for officers of the French Army of the Levant, issued locally under the French Mandate in Syria and Lebanon.

No copy recorded in the CCF. Not in Hage Chahine.

Minor marginal tears to the wrappers, a manuscript ex-libris on the upper wrapper, and a hole in the lower wrapper also affecting the final page but not the text.

The Belgian Jesuit and orientalist Henri Lammens (1862–1937) spent almost his entire life in Beirut; he was the first to apply to the study of the origins of Islam a critical method as rigorous as that used for any historical subject, which earned him much hostility and repeated...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the November 1881 issue of the Revue archéologique, illustrated with a photogravure plate.

Gustave-Charles-Ernest Chocquin, known as "de Sarzec" (1832-1901), discovered the site of Lagash while serving as vice-consul in Basra (1877-1899), and financed the excavations there at his own expense.

As a curator at the Louvre, Léon Heuzey was kept informed of the objects unearthed during the excavations.

An attractive copy despite slight marginal losses to the wrappers.

First edition, printed in a limited number, of this extract from the Mémoires de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France, volume XXXIX.

Only two copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF and BULAC). Not listed in Hage Chahine.

This fascicle is illustrated with one in-text figure and two folding plates; our copy is exceptionally enhanced with an additional hand-coloured plan, featuring manuscript annotations in pencil.

Contemporary half-cloth binding in almond percaline, smooth spine with a central gilt ornament and double gilt fillet at the tail, red morocco leather title label, pebbled paper boards, original rear wrapper preserved.

Archaeologist and...

First edition, illustrated with 11 plates printed outside the text and bound in at the end of the volume.

Some tears with small losses to the spine and to the margins of the covers, a dampstain to the right-hand margin (not affecting the text) on the text leaves.

A copy preserved in its original wrappers.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Journal asiatique.

A single copy recorded in the CCF (BnF).

Losses to the spine and to the margins of the boards, the interior remaining in pleasing condition.

Fulgence Fresnel (1795-1855) developed an early passion for Oriental languages and attended the Arabic and Persian lectures of Sylvestre de Sacy, before studying with the Maronites of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith.

He resided in Egypt, served as a consular agent at Djidda (a port on the Red Sea), travelled through part of Arabia and learned the Himyarite language. In 1852 he was appointed to head the scientific...

First edition, illustrated with a double-page folding map composed of seventeen plates, together with twelve figures in the text (cf. Hague Chahine 1504.).

Bradel binding in half glazed brown cloth, smooth spine with the date gilt at the foot, red shagreen title-label showing minor surface marks, stone-patterned paper boards, corners lightly rubbed; a contemporary binding.

Some scattered foxing.

Account of an archaeological mission including an extensive study of Safaitic inscriptions, with a glossary and an index of proper names.

First edition of this remarkable collection illustrated with five finely engraved outline plates by Adrien-Louis-Marie Cavelier and Pierron after designs by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (cf. Collection Émile Brouwet, II, 168).

Large quarto (27.8 × 40.5 cm). Two pages of text and five engraved plates.

Mid-nineteenth-century half black goatskin, smooth spine decorated in gilt and...

First edition of this monograph devoted to Punic inscriptions discovered in Tunis and its surrounding area.

Small marginal tears to the spine and boards, which also show some light spotting.

Abbé Bargès (1810–1896), a native of Auriol, pursued an unusual career grounded in his exceptional command of Oriental languages (Hebrew, Arabic), and specialised in epigraphy while also engaging with a wider range of disciplines.

The Phoenician world was of particular interest to him, as he long upheld the Punic origin of Marseilles, and he published six monographs on inscriptions in the Phoenician language between 1847 and 1888; the present work forms part of this...

First edition, printed in a very small run as a separate issue.

No copies recorded in the CCFr or WorldCat.

Our copy is presented in its original wrappers, preserved under the original cream paper dust wrapper.

Oxford antiquary and numismatist, William Sandys Wright Vaux (1818–1885) was also closely associated with the Oxford Movement.

On the front cover, autograph inscription from William Sandys Wright Vaux to Count Melchior de Vogüé (1829–1916), the renowned French archaeologist.

Second edition.

Contemporary Bradel binding in green half percaline, smooth spine gilt with a central floral tool, place and date gilt at foot, cherry shagreen lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, one corner bumped, period binding.

Minor abrasions to the left margin of the upper cover, a few scattered foxing marks.

No copy of this edition recorded in the CCF.

Concerning the Franciscan monastery of Santa Maria de La Rabida, situated in the province of Huelva (Andalusia), whose renown derives in part from the assistance it provided to Christopher Columbus before his first voyage.

Braulio Santamaria (1838-1914) was director of the Correo de Huelva.

A very rare first edition of this atlas only, comprising a folding map and 46 plates mounted on guards depicting a total of 135 figures.

Contemporary Bradel-style binding in black half-cloth over marbled boards, spine damaged at the foot, title label partially rubbed away along its length, boards with scuffs and losses to the marbled paper covering, bumped corners, minor wear to the edges.

An exceptionally rare standalone atlas from this landmark monograph on the Chibcha, or Muisca, civilization.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Journal asiatique.

Alongside his diplomatic career, Paul-Pascal-Henri Pognon (1853-1921) devoted himself to Mesopotamian archaeology in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

Combining field discoveries, acquisitions from local antiquities dealers and official survey missions, he assembled Semitic inscriptions whose meaning he deciphered through painstaking translation work. A specialist in Assyrian, Syriac and Aramaic, he produced numerous scholarly publications that became important works of reference.

In 1883, he attracted considerable attention with the discovery of two important inscriptions on...

Rare first edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with a large folding plate of inscriptions (cf. Blackmer 1317. Not in Atabey).

Contemporary half tan calf over marbled boards, with corners, darkened smooth spine ruled in gilt, black morocco lettering-piece, boards rubbed, red-speckled edges.

One joint fragile and tending to separate, some foxing.

"Pittakis is known as the first Greek archaeologist. His early steps were guided by the French consul in Athens, Fauvel, and in 1828, under the provisional government, he was appointed inspector of antiquities. In 1833, with the coming of King Otho, he was appointed supervisor of antiquities of mainland Greece. In...

First edition of the French translation (cf. Blackmer 1752. Not in Weber or Atabey. See Barbier IV, 1083.)

Contemporary full marbled tan calf bindings, smooth spines gilt tooled in compartments with floral motifs, red morocco lettering-pieces, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets to board edges.

Some restorations to a few joints and spines, minor scattered foxing.

Volume IV is entirely devoted to the author’s stay in the Greek islands: Crete, Candia, Damaste, Retimo, Mount Ida, Gortyn, the labyrinth of Crete, Milo, Syphante, Seriphos, Antiparos, Paros, Naxia, Stenofa, Amorgos, Skinosa, Delos, Rhenia, Syra, Cynthos, Zia, Macrounisa, Jura, Tenos, Scio...

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece depicting the site of the ancient city of Panticapaeum (now Kerch, in Crimea), a title-page vignette showing a view of the modern town, two maps (Greek colonies of the Bosphorus and the Black Sea; the Strait of Kerch, with Macpherson’s route), as well as 12 plates, 9 of them in colour (tumuli, vases, bronzes, oil lamps, statuettes, symbols, inscriptions and various objects recovered during excavations), and numerous wood-engravings in the text.

Cf. Abbey, Travel in aquatint and lithography, 243. Blackmer, 1055.

Publisher’s grey blind-stamped cloth, gilt title lettered lengthwise to the smooth spine, large gilt device blocked at...

First edition, with three folding plates and numerous hieroglyphs in the text.

A copy preserved in its original wrappers with temporary green paper covers, a title label affixed at the head of the spine.

Occasional foxing.

The German traveller and Orientalist Julius von Klaproth (1783–1835), one of the foremost linguists of his time, devoted himself chiefly to the languages of Asia, which he spoke almost all.

In this vehement critique of Champollion, published six months after the latter’s untimely death, he seeks—though not entirely in good faith—to call into question the method and results of the scholar from Grenoble, disputing in particular the priority and...

First edition with a folding plate at the end of the volume.

Spine and boards with losses, front cover starting to come loose, black stains to the upper cover.

At the express request of Napoleon III (who remains the dedicatee of the work despite the printing date), the archaeologist Léon Heuzey (1831-1922) undertook in 1861 his second archaeological mission to Macedonia (he had already carried out excavations there in 1855): the Emperor, then engaged in writing his Jules César, took a particular interest in the battlefields of his hero in the East (notably that of Pharsalus).

The mission took place in a difficult geopolitical context and had to be curtailed...

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the August 1858 issue of the Annales de philosophie chrétienne, vol. XVIII, p. 85.

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, housed in the publisher's contemporary plain paper covers.

Minor marginal losses to the covers.

Only three copies recorded in the CCFr (BnF, Sorbonne, BULAC).

One of the author's earliest publications. Victor-Honoré Guérin (1821-1891) was entrusted with a mission to Palestine and the island of Rhodes in 1854.

During two subsequent missions to Palestine [1863 and 1870], he visited more than 1,500 localities, towns and villages, thereby acquiring an...

First edition, printed in a very small number of copies, of this offprint from the Comptes rendus de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres.

Illustrated pamphlet with 13 figures in the text and a double-page folding map.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and Bibliothèque Mazarine).

The archaeologist Joseph-Etienne Gautier (1861-1924) conducted numerous excavation campaigns throughout the Middle East (Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, etc.).

A rare and attractive copy.

First edition of this rare catalogue for the sale of the antiquities collection of Claude-Madeleine Grivaud de La Vincelle (1762-1819), deputy head of accounting at the Chamber of Peers, archaeologist, and numismatist.

497 lots are described.

Late nineteenth-century bradel binding in half blue cloth, smooth spine, brown shagreen title label lettered lengthwise, marbled paper boards.

Some minor foxing, otherwise a pleasant copy.

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société des antiquaires de France, vol. XX.

The work is illustrated at the beginning of the volume with two folding plates engraved by Charles Oury after drawings by Delamare, gathering several figures.

Contemporary half black shagreen, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind fillets and gilt fleurons, minor rubbing to the joints, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, contemporary binding.

Foxing.

A former student of the École Polytechnique and an officer, Delamarre (1793-1861), who adopts a particle on the title-page for greater...

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Revue illustrée de la Terre sainte et de l'Orient chrétien.

The pamphlet is illustrated with black-and-white illustrations in the text and examines the rediscovery in Jerusalem of the "Crypt of the Pater", also known as the "Crypt of the Credo", which had been forgotten for several centuries.

Only 3 copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Bibliothèque Mazarine, Centre Sèvres).

Small tears with minor loss at head and foot of spine.

Signed presentation inscription by Léon Cré on the verso of the front wrapper to the celebrated archaeologist and Marquis Charles-Jean-Melchior de Vogüé...

First edition, privately printed, of this offprint from the August 1811 issue of the Magasin encyclopédique.

Our copy is offered disbound, with a few minor foxing spots of no consequence.

Illustrated with one engraved plate hors texte, this pamphlet concerns a Byzantine boxwood triptych then preserved in the Library of Grenoble. 

Autograph presentation inscription from Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac to the painter Pierre Revoil (1776-1842).

First edition, illustrated with 11 photographic prints measuring 9 x 15 cm, mounted on heavy paper and hinged on stubs. 

S.l., s.d. [circa 1890], oblong 12mo (12 x 19 cm), 

Publisher's full green percaline binding, smooth unlettered spine, gilt and blind-tooled fillet borders on the covers, title stamped in gilt on the upper cover, a few stains to the covers, grey-blue paper pastedowns and endpapers.

A photographer active in Nice from the late 1860s to around 1883, Jean Walburg de Bray (1839-1901) subsequently moved to Cannes, where he remained until the early 1890s. His assistant Jean Gilletta (1856-1933) succeeded him in Nice and reissued part of the stock under his...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 18 engraved plates, 10 of them hand-coloured (cf. Blackmer 87; Atabey 68; Contominas 39; Monglond VII, 654-655).

The 18 plates include the two plates of musical notation and the large folding map at the end of the second volume.

Contemporary green half sheep, darkened smooth spines ruled in gilt, with a narrow gilt roll at foot, marbled paper boards, speckled edges.

Some foxing, light rubbing to the joints, a few gatherings browned. 

First and only edition of Auguste du Coudray's French translation of this account of a journey through Greece, written in the form of letters. Jacob Levin Salomo, known as Jakob...

First edition illustrated with 1 folding plate consisting of a copper-engraved reproduction of the Choiseul Marble by Poisson (cf. Monglond II, 651.)

A restored tear to the verso of the folding plate.

Bradel binding in full marbled paper-covered boards, smooth spine, brown shagreen lettering-piece, red edges, modern binding.

A pleasing copy.

Rare first edition illustrated with 2 plates outside the text, including a frontispiece and a large folding facsimile of the inscription.

Contemporary green half sheep, spine faded and decorated with blind fillets and raised bands, a few scuffs to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, corners bumped.

A few spots of foxing.

This inscription had been unearthed in Marseille in June 1845 and had already given rise to numerous attempts at interpretation.

It is now known as the “Carthage Tariff” and lay at the origin of the enduring myth of the city’s Phoenician origins: the religious regulations it records appeared to provide proof that...

First edition illustrated with a large folding plate inserted out of text reproducing the Greek portion of the Rosetta Stone (cf. Quérard I, 48.)

Our copy is preserved in its original wrappers, in temporary root-pattern paper covers.

A key figure in the establishment of literary repositories during the Revolution, and their transformation into libraries, the antiquarian Hubert-Pascal Ameilhon (1730-1811) remains an important, though far too neglected, figure in bibliography and the sciences.

This relative oblivion owes much to the small number of works published during his lifetime : the work offered here constitutes an essential link in the decipherment of the...