Beschreibung:

Description de l'Égypte, ou Recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Égypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale 1809-12, Imprimerie Royale 1817-[30]. 27 vols., folio and large folio, comprising 14 text vols., of which 13 folio and 1 Jésus [ie., atlas] folio, and 12 plate vols., of which 10 Jésus and 3 Grand Monde [ie., double elephant] folio, contemporary quarter red straight-grained morocco and red morocco-grained paper (4 text vols. and 1 plate volume in similar later quarter red morocco), covers with gilt roll-tooled borders, smooth spines gilt-lettered in compartments, edges uncut, worn, some chipping, library shelf-mark labels on spines, a few library inkstamps, text volumes imperfect (see below), approximately 30 plates misbound, scattered foxing or spotting, occasional marginal dampstaining . FIRST EDITION, half-titles, text vols. with 32 (of 36) engraved maps and plates, including 2 portraits, plate vols. with 891 (of 894) engraved plates, some folding, including 6 duplicate impressions, and of which 41 PRINTED IN COLOR, many with additional hand-coloring, and 2 in sepia, many of the plates engraved with the help of Conté's engraving machine (illustrated in the État Moderne section). Contents: Préface Historique : 1 vol., Jésus folio, half-title, text by M. Fourier (Napoleon is said to have edited and added to the proofs), explanation of the plates by Conté. Antiquités : Descriptions : 2 vols. in 3, Mémoires , text, 2 vols. ( vol. 2 lacking pp. 88-238 ); Planches : 433 plates in 7 vols., consisting of 5 vols. Jésus folio containing 317 plates, plus 10 plates misbound in Histoire naturelle plate vol. 2 bis ; and 2 vols. Grand Monde folio containing 98 plates, plus 8 misbound in Carte Topographique volume. État Moderne : text, 2 vols. in 4; Planches : 164 plates, of which 2 vols. Jésus folio containing 141 plates, plus 18 plates misbound in Histoire naturelle Planches vol. 2 bis , and 5 Grand Monde plates bound in Carte Topographique volume. Histoire Naturelle : text, 2 vols. in 4 ( lacking vol. I, part 1, title-leaf and pp. 1-114, and vol. I, parts 2 and 4 ); Planches : 3 vols. Jésus folio, containing 244 plates. Carte Topographique : 1 vol. Grand Monde folio, comprising engraved title, 13 plates from the Antiquités and État Moderne volumes (as described above), engraved map-key and index leaf (on one sheet), general map in 3 sheets, detailed map in 47 plates on 45 sheets. Due to the variant collations of different copies, sold not subject to return. Brunet II, 616-17; Nissen BBI 2234; Nissen ZBI 4608; Blackmer/Navari 476. The first comprehensive description of ancient and modern Egypt, compiled by the 165 members of the Institut de l'Égypte established by Napoleon to accompany his expedition to Egypt (1798-1801). This exhaustive survey of all aspects of ancient and modern life in Egypt was carried out under the supervision of the mathematician Gaspard Monge the appointed president of the new Institut (Napoleon was vice-president) and was published, in various issues and formats, over a period of 23 years. The members of the Institut were mainly civil engineers, surveyors and cartographers, but also included a chemist (C.-L. Berthollet), a zoologist (Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire), a mineralogist, artists and art historians (Denon, H. J. Redouté, Dutertre), an architect and a musician. Rarely has such a huge amount of information been gathered in such a short time and under such difficult circumstances. "The egyptologists of the 19th century owed their knowledge of ancient Egypt to the efforts of the engineers who described the monuments of antiquity, and it was in the plates of the Description that these were revealed." (Navari/Blackmer catalogue, p. 104). Provenance : Charles Evan Fowler, bookplates (sale, Sotheby's London, 6-7 December 1933) -- French Institute Alliance Française, New York City, Gift of Mr. Albert Morris Bagby (1932), bookplates, i