63 - [LABORDE, Jean-Baptiste de].

[LABORDE, Jean-Baptiste de]. General and Detailed Description of France... [A Picturesque Journey Through France, with a Description of All Its Provinces...]. Paris, printed by Ph.-D. Pierres (through Volume IV), Lamy 1781–Year 8 (1800); starting with Volume V, dated 1787, the title becomes “Picturesque Journey Through France.” 12 parts in 10 large folio volumes (51 x 33 cm). 19th-century half fir calf, smooth spine decorated in the Romantic style, gilt title, green marbled paper covers, yellow edges speckled with blue (minor flaws on the binding, including some restorations; slight rubbing; cap bands occasionally worn; occasional foxing and browned pages; a few minor marginal flaws, but a good copy overall). A superb, monumental volume with delightful and delicate illustrations, engraved here in black by the great illustrators of the era. An important and rare description of France, bringing together more than 750 views of different regions of the country. With very wide margins. 5 frontispieces 7 fold-out views. The illustrations, drawn by Lallemand, d’Aubigny, Bellanger, Cochin, and engraved by Longueil, Martinet, Masquellier, Moreau, Née, and others, consist of 5 frontispiece title pages and 468 copperplate engravings, many of which contain two or three subjects per sheet. The 12 volumes are devoted to various regions of France, notably Burgundy, the Dauphiné, Île-de-France and Paris, Languedoc, Roussillon, the County of Foix, Franche-Comté, Champagne, Normandy, Picardy, and several other provinces. Complete with the large fold-out view by Moreau the Younger, *Revue du Roi* at the Plaine des Sablons, and its large engraved vignette (in volume 7). A rare and sought-after work, adorned with magnificent views documenting France between the Revolution and the Empire. Jean-Benjamin de Laborde, first valet to Louis XV and his favorite, a writer and musician, obtained a position as a fermier général; he was guillotined in 1794. His great fortune had enabled him to financially support or initiate numerous works, among which this one is the most ambitious, though it remained unfinished Although it is a work from the Ancien Régime [...], it proved to be far more ambitious than its predecessors. Indeed, despite his ties to the monarchy, Laborde conceived his work not as a chronicle of the kings’ exploits, but as a history of the customs and traditions of the French people, as well as the geography and natural history of the various regions of France... [This work] pioneered an approach that would serve as a model for subsequent publications. It undoubtedly foreshadowed the vast, richly illustrated scientific work devoted to Egypt. Jean-Benjamin de Laborde (1734–1794) Cohen, 291–295. Millard, 85. Graesse, II, 367.