190 - HAMDY BEY - THEODORE REINACH: UNE NECROPOLE ROYALE A SIDON, FOUILLES DE HAMDY BEY - ATLAS. PARIS, 1892

HAMDY BEY - THEODORE REINACH: UNE NECROPOLE ROYALE A SIDON, FOUILLES DE HAMDY BEY - ATLAS. PARIS, 1892 First and only edition. ELEPHANT FOLIO, contemporary cloth over hardboards rubbed and dusty, complete: title, list of plates and forty six (46) giant Folio plates, edges frayed mostly on title and list of plates, some minor wear, plates detached as the volume is very heavy and bulky, some plates chromolithographed, without the text volume published separately, overall in good condition. First publication of the alleged FAMOUS SARCOPHAGE OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT. A landmark in modern archaeology, it was a joint pioneering work by the Ottoman archaeologist and artist Hamdy Bey and the prominent French scholar Theodore Reinach. Hamdy was of clear Greek origin, his father had been captured as a young boy in the massacre of Chios, raised later in an elite Ottoman family .He assisted his son education on Greek archaeology, he became the first important Ottoman archaeologist. The excavation in Sidon was led entirely by him in his capacity as the director of the Imperial Museum in Constantinople. His findings, including the impressive sarcophagi, still are in Constantinople. The findings created a worldwide impression as they included a giant sarcophagi with depictions of Alexander the Great. They initially thought that perhaps it was the real tomb of Alexander. Though it actually belonged to a later king of Sidon, it earned its name because its highly detailed, deeply carved reliefs depict Alexander the Great in battle and hunting scenes. This Atlas volume is a magnificent Elephant Folio containing 46 highly accurate plates depicting advanced architectural layouts, fine heliogravures and stunning colored chromolithographs that capture the microscopic traces of original painting still remaining on the ancient marble figures. A very influential and impressive book.