4011 - Baldus, Édouard

Baldus, Édouard Vues de Paris en Photographie. 1850s-1860s. 26 albumen prints, mounted to album leaves. Each ca. 20 x 27 cm or reverse (mounts 31,5 x 42,5 cm). Each with the photographer’s “E. Baldus” stamp below the image on the mount. Bound in a contemporary full-leather folio album, the front board gilt-stamped “VUES DE PARIS / EN PHOTOGRAPHIE” around the arms of the City of Paris; spine with raised bands and gilt tooling. A finely produced album comprising 26 large-format albumen prints of Parisian architecture and monuments by Édouard Baldus. Made in the 1850s and 1860s, at the height of Baldus’ career - when he was widely regarded as France’s leading architectural photographer - the album presents monumental views of Paris during its transformation under Napoleon III, captured with remarkable clarity and compositional precision. The photographs range from medieval and royal monuments to the architecture of the Second Empire, including Notre-Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde and the Louvre, as well as now-lost structures, such as the Palais de l’Industrie and the old Hôtel de Ville. The gilt title and City arms identify the volume as a prestige photographic record of the capital; a closely comparable album under the same title is preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. – Binding with rubbed spine and edges and bumped corners; endpapers and a few album leaves with scattered light foxing. A few leaves slightly loose or with small marginal tears; some interleaving sheets with small tears, creases and holes. A few prints with isolated pale foxing spots, mostly in sky areas, light fading, occasional minor scuffs and very slight silver mirroring in dark areas; several prints with exceptionally rich chocolate-brown tones and excellent tonal range. Otherwise, the prints are in overall very good condition.