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CHAPPE d'AUTEROCHE, Jean.
See original version (French)
24
-
CHAPPE d'AUTEROCHE, Jean.
See original version (French)
Estimate €1,000 - €1,500
Voluntary lot
Description
CHAPPE d'AUTEROCHE, Jean.
A Journey to Siberia undertaken by order of the King in 1761...
Paris: Debure, 1768.
3 large quarto volumes (33 x 24 cm). Contemporary marbled porphyry calf, decorated ribbed spine with title and volume number labels, gilt title, marbled edges, whirl-pattern endpapers, double gilt fillet on the edges (spine rubbed with some discolouration, some wear, particularly to the cap ends, but the interior remains fresh).
First edition of this important account of a journey through Russia, Siberia and Kamchatka.
A copy with generous margins on fine laid paper.
Abbé Chappe d’Auteroche (1728–1769), an astronomer and member of the French Academy of Sciences, after whom the lunar crater Chappe is named, was the uncle of the Chappe brothers, including Claude, inventor of the semaphore and a telegraph entrepreneur. Famous for having observed the transit of Venus across the Sun and calculated the distance between the Earth and the Moon, he set off for Russia and Siberia to carry out astronomical observations but returned with an interesting account of the Russians and their way of life, which proved to be a landmark work.
The three illustrated sections of text from the original edition of this work, excluding the Atlas.
The illustrations consist of a frontispiece and 57 plates, including 3 maps and a painting, all engraved in black on copper: views, genre scenes or interiors, works of art… drawn by Le Prince, Moreau the Younger or Caresme de Fécamp and engraved on copper by various artists.
Provenance: a copy belonging to Georges de Hemptinne, bearing his large Art Nouveau-style bookplate.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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