137 - [PAINTINGS OF THE REVOLUTION].

[PAINTINGS OF THE REVOLUTION]. Complete collection of historical paintings of the French Revolution. Paris: Printed by Pierre Didot the Elder, Year VI of the French Republic (1798). 2 large folio volumes. (2)-VI-324 pp. and (2)-pp. 326–580, (2)-27 19th-century marine half-shagreen with corners, spine with faux raised bands highlighted by blind-stamped and gilt fillets, gilt title and volume number, marbled edges (spine slightly faded and dye damaged in this area, some minor wear and rubbing, upper joints slightly damaged on volume 1, one inner joint slightly loose in Volume 2, first frontispiece discreetly reinforced at two points on the reverse, slight foxing mainly in the margins, a faint marginal water stain without damage to the illustrations or text on a few leaves at the end of Volume 2, but the interior remains fresh overall). First and only early edition. A fine copy of this impressive publication, which appeared from 1791 to 1796 in 112 installments. A very fine Didot print on large vellum paper. Three parts in 2 substantial volumes. Copy with wide margins. The illustrations are engraved on copper in black; in our copy, part of the print is on azure-colored paper. With serpentine borders. Includes the 3 frontispieces after Fragonard the Younger and the 144 large scenes of the French Revolution by Jean-Louis Prieur, Jacques François Joseph Swebach, Jean Duplessi-Bertaux, Abraham Girardet, Nicolas-Marie Ozanne, Fragonard, and Jean Desaulx, all finely rendered. Including the frontispiece “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.” 9 illustrations and 66 text plates with tondo portraits, all fully engraved for Part 3: the series of portraits of figures from the Revolution in medallions is magnificently executed in the mezzotint technique.Each is set above a historical banner and text engraved in italics. Very fine prints. The texts in Part 3 consist of the Constitutions of 1791 and 1793, the Decree of the Convention (Year II), the Constitution of Year III (Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen), and the Constitution of Year VIII. At the end of the volume, there is a document on the Concordat, the Consulate, along with the speeches by Barthelemy and Bonaparte upon his appointment as Consul for life, the Convention between the Pope and France, the Consuls’ Proclamation to the French People, the apostolic letters... and Bonaparte’s Proclamation on General Peace, bound together in Volume 2 preceding (1)-4 pp. of tables.