51 - [France]. GUERIN, Léon. SPINDLER, Louis-Pierre.

[France]. GUERIN, Léon. SPINDLER, Louis-Pierre. A Maritime History of France, Including the History of the Provinces, Seaport Cities, Colonies, Voyages, and Naval Battles. New edition. Paris, Dufour and Mulat, 1852–1854. 6 volumes, large 8vo. Contemporary fawn half-basane, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, pink title label and navy-blue volume number, gilt title, finely speckled edges (bindings worn, cap bands rubbed or missing, scattered foxing, a few scattered marginal defects including light water stains and ink spots, a few darkened illustrations—the type of paper used varies from laid to vellum—a few smudges on the engravings, a missing piece of spine, and the spine partially detached on volume 3). A reference work on maritime history beginning with the founding of Marseille. Illustrated with 12 plates engraved on steel or in mezzotint: historical and maritime scenes, ships, and a line-drawn nautical chart, some printed on applied China paper. Léon Guérin (1807–1885), a journalist, historian, and poet, began his literary career as a writer, sometimes under the pen names Guérin-Dulion or de Mirbel. An author of tales and short stories, he also published *Chants lyriques et autres essais poétiques* (Garnier, 1829) in his youth. He founded the *Journal des enfants*, followed by *La Gazette des enfants et des jeunes personnes*, before specializing in history. An exceptional copy enriched with 17 beautiful watercolor marine drawings with light highlights in gum, signed L. Spindler, dated August 1862 or 1862, including an allegorical frontispiece in Volume 1. All are titled and dated in pen in a banner beneath the image, with a reference to the corresponding page in the volume. Louis Pierre Spindler (1800–1889), a history and genre painter of Alsatian origin—here following his time in England—depicts exquisite maritime scenes and views with great artistic skill. Of particular note is his depiction of Mont Saint-Michel. In Volume I: Frontispiece title page with figures and republican and monarchist symbols; The Flight of Domitius from Marseille; Scandinavian drakars in the year 511 CE; Greek ship based on an ancient model; The Moegarbine, a Turkish ship receiving a broadside from a ship of the Order of Malta. In Volume II: Boulogne; Battle of La Rochelle, 1573; Barcelona in 1610—- Volume III: Dunkirk—Interior of the harbor; Jean de Casenove, known as Coulon, captures the Dutch fleet. In Volume IV: Battle between La Cordelière and La Régente (magnificent naval battle scene); Aigues-Mortes (ramparts). Volume V: Cicero’s tomb at Mola di Gaeta; Mont Saint-Michel (with Chappe’s telegraph at the summit). Volume VI: Abbeville (cathedral and harbor); Gravelines, harbor entrance; Calais (view from the sea). Mengus, *Biographie alsacienne*, 35, 3699.