210 - [Egypt]. VIVANT DENON, Dominique.

[Egypt]. VIVANT DENON, Dominique. Plates from the Journey through Lower and Upper Egypt, Illustrated with Sketches and Drawings. Florence, Published by Giuseppe Tofani, 1808. Large folio (55 x 38 cm), title page, 150 plates including 6 maps and plans (7 plates A–G and 143 plates out of 144, excluding plate 91), printed on period laid paper with wide margins. Later bound in modest gray half-cloth, with blue cardboard covers (soiling on the cover, a repaired tear near the spine that does not affect the plates; marginal stain on plates 83–81; some foxing, but a fine copy). First and only Italian edition of Didot’s famous atlas of Bonaparte’s Egyptian expedition. Translated and edited by Abbé Francesco Fontani, librarian of the Riccardiana in Florence. Ruled paper with watermark (crown, horn, and the initials “MG”). Full margins One of the finest graphic masterpieces of early 19th-century European Egyptomania. Second part only, comprising the Atlas. The illustrations here consist mostly of sumptuous sepia-toned aquatints for the views, lending the desert landscapes a very soft, wash-like quality, and highly precise burin engravings, depicting in particular archaeological details, hieroglyphs, plans, and profiles of monuments. A section featuring black-and-white chisel engravings, including anatomical plates, plans, and series of motifs. This copy includes 150 plates out of the 151 required. It contains the 7 plates labeled A–G, depicting coastal views, as well as 143 of the 144 numbered plates. Plate 91, depicting the View of Ajaccio in Corsica and the View of Fréjus, is missing. Cicognara, 2520.