"Paul de LACROIX - Galerie contemporaine, littéraire et artistique Without title pages or publisher's name [Baschet 1876-1884] - A very important set from the original publication of this titanic project for a detailed bibliography of the great artists, scholars, politicians, painters and sculptors of the time, including numerous notes and, above all, photographic portraits of the most important personalities of the second half of the 19th century. Better known from a later publication in 1890, in 8 volumes bound by Magnier, this collection is divided into 5 volumes, 3 of which are devoted to painters and sculptors, 1 to literary figures and 1 to politicians and scholars. Period bindings in red half-basanes with corners, with rubbing and a few accidents. The collation is as follows: 1st volume of Painters and Sculptors: 47 small portraits in medallions, 2 large portraits and 57 photographs of works, most in large format. 2nd volume of Painters and Sculptors: 6 large-format portraits and 35 smaller-format portraits, plus 57 photographs of works. 3rd volume of Painters and Sculptors: 2 large-format portraits, 38 smaller-format portraits and 59 photographs of works. 4th volume of Literators: 63 large-format portraits, including a single smaller-format portrait of Sarah Bernhardt, and 2 large-format photographs of works. Note that the portrait of Jules Goncourt is in small medallion format, but is not on a photographic plate, so we have not counted it. 5th volume of Hommes politiques et savants: 45 large portraits A total of 121 photoglypics of portraits in small and medium format, 117 of portraits in large format and 175 photoglypics of works of art, most of them in large format: an exceptional set of 413 laminated photoglypics, accompanied by around 280 notes, with many of the artists represented benefiting from 2 or 3 notes, such as J.P Laurens, Lobrichon, Joseph de Nittis, Corot, Gustave Doré, Millet, Bartholdi... Large in-4 volumes, unpaginated."