132 - Count Alexandre de LABORDE. A Picturesque and Historical Journey Through Spain. Paris, Pierre Didot the Elder, 1806–1820. 4 in-plano volumes, green half-basane with corner pieces, smooth spines with decorative embellishments (contemporary binding).

Count Alexandre de LABORDE. A Picturesque and Historical Journey Through Spain. Paris, Pierre Didot the Elder, 1806–1820. 4 in-plano volumes, green half-basane with corner pieces, smooth spines with decorative embellishments (contemporary binding). Brunet, III-713 / Graesse, IV-58 / Vicaire, IV-742 /// I. (1f.)-XLVI-72-(1f.), 62 plates / II. (2f.)-73 to 132, 74 plates (out of 76) / III. (2f.)-XLV-36, 80 plates / IV. (2f.)-XCI-38, 56 plates, 2 maps. Alexandre-Louis-Joseph de Laborde (1773–1842) was sent to Vienna at the time of the Revolution, where he served for several years in the Austrian Imperial Army. Returning to France after the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, he traveled throughout Europe and was then dispatched in 1800 as an attaché to Lucien Bonaparte’s embassy in Spain. There, he was struck by the monuments and remnants of civilization—grand and strange monuments of two religions and two peoples almost unknown to Europe—and by this country, which offered a vast and alluring field of novelties and discoveries. He then conceived the plan for his work, undoubtedly the finest and most comprehensive on the subject. He assembled a team of artists whom he supported at his own expense and gathered numerous documents. The writing and publication were interrupted in 1808 by the war, and the work was not completed until 12 years later, in 1820. 2 maps and 272 (out of 274) plates featuring nearly 350 subjects drawn by Dutailly, Laborde, Ligier, Moulinier, Vauzelle… engraved on copper by Baltard, Godefroy, Lorieux, Reville, Schroeder, Viq… The binding is heavily scuffed, with faded spines and paper loss on the covers. Two plates are missing from the second volume; there is faint water damage on the last few pages of the first volume that does not affect the plates, and a small wormhole in the inner margin of the fourth volume.