201 - [NAVY] BAUGEAN, Jean-Jérôme. A Collection of All Types of Warships and Merchant Ships Sailing the Oceans and the Mediterranean, Drawn from Life.

[NAVY] BAUGEAN, Jean-Jérôme. A Collection of All Types of Warships and Merchant Ships Sailing the Oceans and the Mediterranean, Drawn from Life. An excellent and rare edition of this famous album, consisting of 72 plates drawn and engraved by the author. Paris, published by Jean. n.d. [circa 1815–1825] Small oblong quarto volume (220 × 290 mm), green half-vellum with small corners, smooth spine decorated with gold fillets and dotted lines. 15 pp. and 72 plates. Binding slightly worn; vellum split at the first joint and at the top of the second. Plate 63 has a small, restored tear in the margin; plate 2 has a small tear (2 cm) in the side margin; some foxing on the text pages. One of the most important compendiums of naval architecture from the early 19th century. This copy is distinguished by its fully engraved title page, adorned with elegant, curlicue calligraphy. This composition differs radically from the classic typographic layout adopted for the 1826 edition by the same publisher. The absence of a date and the high quality of the well-contrasted prints suggest that this is an earlier printing. A painter, draftsman, and engraver to the King, Jean-Jérôme Baugean (1764–1830) of Marseille established himself as one of the greatest marine painters of his time. Renowned for engraving only his own original drawings, he enjoyed immense success and provided historians and art lovers alike with an indispensable visual record of early 19th-century navigation. A rare copy in perfectly fresh condition.