Description
GIGAULT DE LA SALLE. Voyage pittoresque en Sicile dedie a son altesse royale madame la duchesse de Berry. 2 volumes in-plane. 610x470 mm. Contemporary red morocco binding, large red cardboard panel on the plates within a gilt decorated frame, gilt titles, rules and ornaments on the spines. Vol. I: 8 unnumbered pages with half-title, title page, notice to readers, dedication, 40, 90 unnumbered with 44 views and 1 geographical map. Vol. II: 4 unnumbered pages with half-title and title page, 100 unnumbered with 48 plates, 2 index. Typographic brand on the two title pages, with calligraphic initials, 'PD' and 'JD'. In total a geographical map of Sicily, 92 beautiful aquatints, some on a colored background. Copy without the list of subscribers, present only in some copies. Occasional foxing, sign of humidity on the margins, affecting some plates, some browning, however the copy is in good condition, with wide margins. Rare first edition, magnificently illustrated, edited by Jean Frederic Ostervald. The magnificent aquantints depict the most important monuments of Sicily and spectacular views of Syracuse, Catania, Messina, Etna, Palermo, Montreal, Termini Imerese, Sciacca, Agrigento, Taormina, etc. They are engraved by Franz Hegi, Theodore Henry Fielding, Newton Fielding and others after Forbin, Huber, Vauzelle, Lesamt, Bonington, Copley, Renoux and others, whose names appear in the plates. The plates are memorable for the skilful dosage of light and shadow which produces an evocative effect of three-dimensionality between bright skies, dark interiors and a series of other variably lit environments. The book was originally published in 24 parts and includes a historical summary by Gigault de La Salle that offers an overview of events from antiquity to his time. Abbey calls the work "the most ambitious of the colored aquatint books edited by J. F. d'Ostervald," who produced a series of works on the picturesque, including two famous large editions focusing on the regions of France. To guarantee the quality of the aquatints, the work was printed in a limited number of copies. Abbey estimates that around 500 copies of the book were produced and comments that the book is "certainly rare, in this country at all events, only three copies being reported at auction in the last fifty years."
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GIGAULT DE LA SALLE. Voyage pittoresque en Sicile dedie a son altesse royale madame la duchesse de Berry. 2 volumes in-plane. 610x470 mm. Contemporary red morocco binding, large red cardboard panel on the plates within a gilt decorated frame, gilt titles, rules and ornaments on the spines. Vol. I: 8 unnumbered pages with half-title, title page, notice to readers, dedication, 40, 90 unnumbered with 44 views and 1 geographical map. Vol. II: 4 unnumbered pages with half-title and title page, 100 unnumbered with 48 plates, 2 index. Typographic brand on the two title pages, with calligraphic initials, 'PD' and 'JD'. In total a geographical map of Sicily, 92 beautiful aquatints, some on a colored background. Copy without the list of subscribers, present only in some copies. Occasional foxing, sign of humidity on the margins, affecting some plates, some browning, however the copy is in good condition, with wide margins. Rare first edition, magnificently illustrated, edited by Jean Frederic Ostervald. The magnificent aquantints depict the most important monuments of Sicily and spectacular views of Syracuse, Catania, Messina, Etna, Palermo, Montreal, Termini Imerese, Sciacca, Agrigento, Taormina, etc. They are engraved by Franz Hegi, Theodore Henry Fielding, Newton Fielding and others after Forbin, Huber, Vauzelle, Lesamt, Bonington, Copley, Renoux and others, whose names appear in the plates. The plates are memorable for the skilful dosage of light and shadow which produces an evocative effect of three-dimensionality between bright skies, dark interiors and a series of other variably lit environments. The book was originally published in 24 parts and includes a historical summary by Gigault de La Salle that offers an overview of events from antiquity to his time. Abbey calls the work "the most ambitious of the colored aquatint books edited by J. F. d'Ostervald," who produced a series of works on the picturesque, including two famous large editions focusing on the regions of France. To guarantee the quality of the aquatints, the work was printed in a limited number of copies. Abbey estimates that around 500 copies of the book were produced and comments that the book is "certainly rare, in this country at all events, only three copies being reported at auction in the last fifty years."
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