75 - [Commission for Science and the Arts of Egypt]. Description of Egypt, or Collection of Observations and Research Conducted in Egypt During the French Army’s Expedition. Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1809–1829, and Panckoucke, 1820–1829., A monumental encyclopedic work commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting from the French scientific expedition to Egypt during the campaign of 1798–1801

[Commission for Science and the Arts of Egypt]. Description of Egypt, or Collection of Observations and Research Conducted in Egypt During the French Army’s Expedition. Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1809–1829, and Panckoucke, 1820–1829., A monumental encyclopedic work commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, resulting from the French scientific expedition to Egypt during the campaign of 1798–1801 [Commission des sciences et arts d’Égypte]. *Description de l’Égypte, or Collection of Observations and Research Conducted in Egypt During the French Army’s Expedition*. Paris, Imprimerie Impériale, 1809–1829, and Panckoucke, 1820–1829. In quarto (219 x 131 mm) and in Jesus folio (687 x 516 mm). 26 text volumes of the second edition, 1 single volume of the Preface in quarto, 1 volume of the Preface historique, and 10 volumes of plates from the first edition. Hundreds of plates on heavy paper, including the 14 plates of birds and the 15 plates of mineralogy colored “au pinceau,” a characteristic of copies in “grand papier” (The volume of maps is missing, as are 107 plates; scattered browning and foxing, small marginal tears, and other minor defects.) The quarto-sized volumes are bound in brown half-leather with green labels for the title and volume numbering; the Jesus-format volumes are bound in dark brown morocco leather with corners and gilded metal decorations, signed “K Kaufmann Rel. Paris,” spines with 5 and 6 raised bands, compartments decorated in Egyptian style with cartouches, heads, and flowers; on the covers, a calligraphic supralibros in araboche bearing the name “Ibrahim” within a circle surrounded by stylized wings and surmounted by a winged sphinx (some peeling on the ribs, small losses, and a few defects). The *Description de l’Égypte* is one of the most ambitious publishing projects of the 19th century, an absolute masterpiece of scientific illustration and, at the same time, one of the first and most in-depth systematic studies of ancient and modern Egypt. Its publication sparked unprecedented enthusiasm for Egyptian civilization, whose influence quickly spread to the decorative arts, architecture, and fashion, giving rise to the famous “retour d’Égypte” style. The work was produced by a large group of scholars and scientists—the so-called savants—who accompanied Napoleon’s expedition, documenting the region’s monuments, landscapes, flora, fauna, and customs through drawings, maps, descriptions, and surveys that combined art and science in a way that was innovative for the time. Over 2,000 artists and technicians, including approximately 400 engravers, worked on the illustrations. For the copperplate engravings, a machine devised by Nicolas-Jacques Conté was used—a sort of mechanical pantograph that facilitated the transfer of the drawings onto the plates; many of the copper plates were deposited at the Louvre’s Calcography, where they remain to this day. A perfect synthesis of scientific rigor and the highest aesthetic value, the work is rarely found in its complete form; this copy, while incomplete, is highly captivating and in good condition. It should also be noted that very few copies have appeared on the market with a signed binding: ours stands out for its splendid binding by the Kauffmann atelier, a renowned Parisian dynasty of bookbinders with roots in the nineteenth century, active since at least 1847. The atelier maintained technical and stylistic continuity for over eighty years, consolidated under the leadership of Karl Kauffmann, a bookbinder from 1875 to 1929, first on Rue Dauphine and later on Rue Git-le-Cœur. Upon Karl’s death, the atelier passed to Francis Horclois, husband of Berthe Kauffmann, thus ensuring the continuation of the family tradition. The refined calligraphic Arabic supralibros on the covers, bearing the name “Ibrahim,” suggests that the first owner was Ibrahim Hilmi Pasha, a field marshal and son of Khedive Ismāʿīl Pasha, a scholar and bibliophile, and author of the monumental bibliography *The Literature of Egypt and the Sudan*. Subsequently, the volumes passed to Paolo Rustom Pasha, born in Cairo, the last descendant of Rustom Pasha, Grand Vizier to Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and related, through a collateral branch, to the family of Ibrahim Hilmi Pasha. A monumental encyclopedic work commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte, born out of the French scientific expedition to Egypt during the campaign between 1798 and 1801