247 - PREZIOSI, Amadeo. Memories of Cairo.

PREZIOSI, Amadeo. Memories of Cairo. First edition of this series of 20 chromolithographs in magnetically intense colors. One of the most beautiful illustrated Orientalist albums of the 19th century, in its original cardboard binding. Paris, Impr. Lemercier, n.d. [1862]. Folio (58 × 43 cm), burgundy publisher’s percaline binding, upper cover adorned with the word “Cairo” in Arabic within an embossed border repeated on the back cover. Lithographed title page, 20 chromolithographs (approx. 41 × 29 cm) signed in stone and numbered, one printed flyleaf. Worn and faded binding with small losses on the fragile spine; a few small foxing spots in the margins of the lithographs. A very rare first edition of this album containing 20 superb chromolithographs in stunning colors illustrating Old Cairo, its neighborhoods, its inhabitants, and their traditional costumes. Lithographed title page, with a printed dedication to “His Excellency Mr. H.C. du Bois, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, to the Courts of Turkey and Greece.” Amadéo Preziosi (1816–1882), a Maltese Orientalist painter trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, settled in Constantinople around 1842, where he gained great renown among European travelers. His illustrated albums are among the most valuable iconographic records of the Orient in the 19th century. His album on Cairo is the result of a visit he made in the company of the Dutch minister Du Bois in 1862. Vibrant plates, displaying a rare freshness.