France pittoresque et monumentale ou description pittoresque, topographique et statistique des départements et colonies de la France

First edition, 470 engraved plates including 363 views and portraits, 94 departmental maps, 8 city plans, one table as well as 3 folding maps of France... and most importantly, the 1834 Paris map by Monin, almost always missing, in volume 3.
Contemporary half-blonde calf bindings. Smooth spine decorated with series of fillets, tail roll. Black calf title and volume labels. Surface abrasions on the spines. Head caps of volumes 2 and 3 partially slightly worn. A few rare and pale scattered foxing marks, on an otherwise clean and fresh set.
While this history of France remains interesting to read (it teems with curious anecdotes and erudition, and Hugo was a skillful compiler), it is much more interesting from a geographical standpoint (human and physical) and provides a proper panorama of France in 1834, with numerous statistics. The work possesses above all a rich iconography, notably of all the monuments of France, even those that have disappeared such as the château de Richelieu. Furthermore, the last volume concludes with the description of the state of Algiers, Senegal, Île Bourbon, the French colonies in India, the French Antilles, Guyana, Madagascar.