1690 - Horses

Horses Delton, Georges Les Chevaux d'Algérie et de Tunisie. Photogravure album. Paris, published by Sport universel illustré, 1898. With 80 photogravure plates based on photographs. 14 pp. Landscape 4° format. Original printed covers. (Slightly stained and dusty). Extremely rare; no copies have been found on the international market. — The first and only edition of this impressive photographic album featuring eighty exceptionally finely reproduced images of Arabian and Berber horse breeds from Algeria and Tunisia. The introductory text was written by Georges Delton (1859–1930), a member of the prominent French Delton dynasty of photographers, whose name was particularly associated with equine and sports photography in the 19th century. Georges Delton was the younger brother of Louis-Jean Delton (1850–1914) and the son of the dynasty’s founder, also named Jean-Louis Delton (1807–1891), a former cavalry officer and pioneer of equestrian photography. The family-run studio, La Photographie Hippique, had been one of the leading addresses for equestrian photography in Paris since the 19th century; the Deltons portrayed riders, horse-drawn carriages, and horses for an aristocratic and upper-middle-class audience. This publication appeared in late 1898 and documents horse breeding in North Africa in a sequence that was remarkably systematic for its time. Its plates combine typological precision with the high aesthetic standards of collotype, a particularly nuanced photographic printing process. At the same time, the album is part of the sports journalism landscape shaped editorially and photographically by the Delton family: *La Photographie Hippique* was absorbed into *Le Sport universel illustré* in 1895, through whose distribution channels the work was offered. An early and rare example of photographic documentation of horses, as well as an important album on the reception of Arabian and Berber horse breeds in late 19th-century France. Hippology. - With 80 collotype plates based on photographs. 14 pp. Oblong 4to. Original printed wrappers (somewhat soiled and dust-stained). Extremely rare; no copy can be found in the international book trade. - First and only edition of this impressive photographic album, containing eighty exceptionally finely reproduced images of Arabian and Barb horses from Algeria and Tunisia. The introductory text was written by Georges Delton (1859–1930), a member of the distinguished French Delton photographic dynasty, whose name was particularly associated with equestrian and sports photography in the nineteenth century. Georges Delton was the younger brother of Louis-Jean Delton (1850–1914) and the son of the dynasty’s founder, also named Jean-Louis Delton (1807–1891), a former cavalry officer and pioneer of equestrian photography. The family studio, La Photographie Hippique, had been among Paris’s leading establishments for equestrian photographic documentation since the nineteenth century; the Deltons photographed riders, carriages, and horses for an aristocratic and upper-middle-class clientele. Published at the end of 1898, this work documents North African horse breeding in a sequence that was remarkably systematic for its time. Its plates combine typological precision with the high aesthetic standards of the calotype, a photographic printing process capable of exceptionally subtle tonal effects. The album also belongs to the realm of sports publishing, which was shaped editorially and photographically by the Delton family: in 1895, *La Photographie Hippique* was incorporated into *Le Sport universel illustré*, through which this work was offered for sale. An early and rare example of photographic equestrian documentation, and an important album for the reception of Arabian and Barb horse breeds in late nineteenth-century France. This lot is subject to standard tax. A 24.95% buyer’s premium applies to the hammer price, and 7% (Books and Art) or 19% VAT (Manuscripts, Screenprints, Offset Prints, Photographs) applies to the final invoice amount within the European Union. This work is subject to the standard tax regime. A 24.95% buyer’s premium applies to the hammer price, and 7% (books and art) or 19% VAT (manuscripts, screen prints, offset prints, and photographs) applies to the final invoice amount within the European Union.