19 - MILLIN DE GRANDMAISON, Aubin-Louis.

MILLIN DE GRANDMAISON, Aubin-Louis. Description of the Tombs of Canosa, as well as the bas-reliefs, suits of armor, and painted vases discovered there in the year 1813. Paris: C. Wassermann, 1816. Large folio (57 x 43 cm), title page, 46 pp., 14 plates, including 4 double-page spreads, mounted on tabs. Olive-colored morocco-style half-leather binding with period corners, covers edged with a double gilt line, smooth spine with gilt title running the full length (binding rubbed, a loss at the top of the spine, foxing, marginal water stain at the bottom of the plates). First edition of this rare, beautifully produced archaeological work devoted to the ancient tombs discovered in 1813 at Canosa (Canusium) in Puglia. Printed by Pierre Didot the Elder, with generous margins. Engraved title vignette, headpieces, and tailpieces by Ange Desmaisons. The historian and curator of the Cabinet des Antiques, Millin (1759–1818), describes the unearthed Greco-Roman tombs and artifacts, notably painted vases, armor, and bas-reliefs, whose subjects and iconography he examines. Illustrated with 14 exquisite black-and-white copperplate engravings, including four double-page plates, depicting the tombs, architectural plans and views, as well as the most remarkable figurative vases unearthed in the necropolis, featuring scenes from the Underworld, Medea killing her children, the battle of the Amazons, Peleus handing his weapons to Achilles, and the madness of Lycurgus... Blackmer, 1131. Cicognara, 2684 “an edition executed with great elegance.”