22 - [ARCHITECTURE - INTERIOR DESIGN]. PERCIER, Charles, and FONTAINE, Pierre-François-Léonard. A collection of interior decorations covering everything related to furnishings, such as vases, tripods, candelabras, lamps, fireplaces, clocks, armchairs, chairs, tables, mirrors, screens...

[ARCHITECTURE - INTERIOR DESIGN]. PERCIER, Charles, and FONTAINE, Pierre-François-Léonard. A collection of interior decorations covering everything related to furnishings, such as vases, tripods, candelabras, lamps, fireplaces, clocks, armchairs, chairs, tables, mirrors, screens... First edition of this manifesto of the Empire style, by the official architects of Napoleon I, illustrated with 40 line-engraved plates depicting furniture, objets d’art, and ornaments. Paris, published by the authors, Ducamp, Joubert, Coeffier, and available at all novelty shops, Year IX, 1801 Oblong folio, brown half-shagreen, ribbed spine highlighted with a gilt fillet and cold-stamped, author and title in gilt letters, gilt “G.L.C.” monogram at the foot, 1 title leaf decorated with an engraved vignette and 40 plates (out of 42) engraved from drawings by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine and captioned, all mounted on tabs. Binding is scuffed with a few scratches on the leather. Foxing, more pronounced in the margins. First edition of this major architectural compendium, produced by Napoleon I’s official architects, Charles Percier (1764–1838) and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine (1762–1853). It features 40 plates (out of 42) of furniture, objets d’art, and decorative elements (vases, candelabras, beds, tables, fireplaces, etc.), line engravings based on the drawings of the two architects. The title listed 72 plates, all of which appeared only in the second edition, published 10 years later. A true manifesto of the Empire style, it codified the European neoclassical aesthetic of the early 19th century by reviving ancient Greco-Roman and Egyptian models adapted to modern comfort. It served as the definitive model for all 19th-century cabinetmakers, bronze casters, interior designers, and goldsmiths throughout Europe. It is also the first work to discuss “interior decoration.” Plates 12 and 16 are missing. Ex-libris label with the monogram G.L.C. A sturdy copy.