131 - [GEOGRAPHY - BURGUNDY] - LABORDE (Jean-Benjamin de) / GUETTARD (Jean-Étienne) / BÉGUILLET (Edme)

[GEOGRAPHY - BURGUNDY] - LABORDE (Jean-Benjamin de) / GUETTARD (Jean-Étienne) / BÉGUILLET (Edme) General and Detailed Description of France; a work enriched with engravings based on drawings by the most famous artists. Rhône Department. Government of Burgundy Paris, Printed by Ph.-D. Pierres, the King’s Official Printer, 1781–1784, 2 volumes in 1 book. Large folio. 19th-century half-calf. Smooth spine decorated with gilt fleurons. Title label in red morocco. Faults on the cap and the jaw of the front cover, which is split. Interior fresh. First edition of the very first portion of this monumental and historic publishing undertaking from the end of the Ancien Régime, which would later be continued and become famous under the title *Voyage pittoresque de la France*. Initiated by Count Jean-Benjamin de Laborde (chief valet and favorite of Louis XV), this national and patriotic encyclopedic project aimed to paint a physical, historical, and monumental “portrait” of the provinces of France. The historical and descriptive writing for this section devoted to Burgundy was orchestrated by the historian and prolific writer Edme Béguillet, while the section on the natural sciences, climate, flora, and mineralogy was entrusted to the renowned scholar of the Academy of Sciences, Jean-Étienne Guettard. Compilation and physical structure of the “Government of Burgundy” section: • Volume I (1781): Title page, Epistle to the King (2 ff.), Preface (2 ff.), Preliminary Discourse or Historical Preface (pp. I–XX), and pages 1–216 of continuous text. • Volume II (1784): Intermediate title page, pages 217–535 of continuous text (end of the text), and Table of Contents (5 unnumbered folios). Since the work was published in successive installments, the combination of these two volumes into a single volume constitutes the complete text of the Burgundian monograph. According to Cohen’s bibliography for this title, the text of these first two volumes published by Pierres contains no in-text illustrations, as the landscape plates drawn by Lallemand were published separately in portfolios or atlases of prints. References: Cohen-De Ricci, 291; Brunet, II, 620; Graesse, II, 367.