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CAILLIAUD (Frédéric) Paris, Imprimerie Royale, et imprimerie…
See original version (French)
39
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CAILLIAUD (Frédéric) Paris, Imprimerie Royale, et imprimerie…
See original version (French)
Estimate €4,000 - €6,000
Voluntary lot
Description
CAILLIAUD (Frédéric)
Paris, Imprimerie Royale, et imprimerie de Rignoux 1826-1827 (text) and 1823 (atlas)...
Voyage à Méroé, au fleuve blanc, au-delà du Fâzoql.
4 vol. in-8 (20.5 × 12.8 cm) of text, half brown calf, smooth spine decorated; 2 vol. in-folio (51.5 × 34.3 cm) of atlas, half aubergine long-grained morocco with corners, smooth spines, gilt title (contemporary bindings).
First edition.
Adorned with 10 (out of 15) colour-enhanced plates of costumes out of the text, and 150 plates in two atlas volumes, most of them lithographed by various engravers including Engelman, C. de Motte and Villain.
The expedition led by Frédéric Cailliaud (1787-1869) to Egypt between 1818 and 1823 took place against the backdrop of a 19th century marked by a strong enthusiasm for scientific exploration.
In 1818, Frédéric Cailliaud was given a mission by King Louis XVIII to continue the exploration of Egypt begun at the end of the eighteenth century by Napoleon Bonaparte's troops between 1798 and 1801. Arriving in Egypt in 1818, he took advantage of a military expedition led by Mehmet Ali's troops to discover the southern regions, in particular Nubia, which was still unexplored at the time. During this trip, he discovered the site of Meroe and its pyramid necropolis, and became one of the first to document Nubia.
Published with the participation of Edme François Jomard, this Voyage à Méroé is a reference work. Cailliaud brought together a wide range of observations, illustrated in the atlas volumes with botanical and zoological plates, as well as with colour costumes in the text volumes. The inscriptions found by the explorer were used by Champollion to demonstrate his deciphering system.
Alongside the Description de l'Égypte and the Précis de Champollion, Le Voyage à Méroé is one of the pioneering works of archaeology that made a major contribution to the birth of Egyptology.
A fine copy, despite rubbing and traces of wear on the covers of the atlas volumes, as well as a few scattered freckles in the text and atlas volumes, and the lack of 5 plates in the text volumes. The double-page atlas plate, numbered LIV-LV, is bound in at the beginning of the first atlas volume.
Bibliography
Chadenat, 2066, Brunet, I, 1465. Gay, no. 2572. Numa Broc, p. 63. Missing from Abbey and Atabey. Mainterot, "Un pionnier méconnu de l'égyptologie, le voyageur nantais Frédéric Cailliaud (1787-1869)", Les Oubliés de l'histoire. Proceedings of the 134th National Congress of Historical and Scientific Societies, "Célèbres ou obscurs: hommes et femmes dans leurs territoires et leur histoire". Éditions du CTHS, 2012. p. 199-203.
See original version (French)
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