167 - Émile PRISSE D'AVESNES. History of Egyptian Art Based on Monuments from the Earliest Times to Roman Rule… [Atlas only]. Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1878. 2 in-plano volumes, in the publisher’s brown Bradel cloth binding, title gilt on the front covers.

Émile PRISSE D'AVESNES. History of Egyptian Art Based on Monuments from the Earliest Times to Roman Rule… [Atlas only]. Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1878. 2 in-plano volumes, in the publisher’s brown Bradel cloth binding, title gilt on the front covers. Blackmer, 1358 / Brunet, IV-885 / Vinet, 1872 /// I. Architecture. (3f.), 62 plates / II. Drawing, sculpture, painting, applied arts. (3f.), 97 plates. First edition. Émile Prisse d'Avesnes (1807–1879), a French archaeologist and journalist, devoted his life to the study of Egypt. After fighting in the Greek War of Independence, he entered the service of Pasha Mehmet as a civil engineer and hydrographer. He worked on various projects designed to supply water to the streets of Alexandria and on the route of a canal from Alexandria to Cairo. In January 1836, he resigned from his post and devoted himself to the study of hieroglyphs and the history of Egyptian art and the Orient in general. He was subsequently very active both in the East and in France, participating in numerous projects and missions and contributing to many publications in the fields of archaeology, science, architecture, industry, ethnography, ethnology, numismatics, and more. A standalone atlas comprising 159 plates, most of them chromolithographs. The publication of this work, which appeared in installments, began in 1858 with Gide and was later completed by the Arthus Bertrand publishing house. The plates appeared in 42 installments between 1868 and 1878. Prisse d’Avesnes, exhausted by the work he was undertaking, left it to his publisher to have the text of his work written. Binding is scuffed with worn and torn corners; there is a small tear at one spine joint on the first volume and a split on the inner spine of the second. Foxing.