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4 - BACLER d’ALBE (Louis Albert Guislain, Baron)
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,200
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Description
BACLER d’ALBE (Louis Albert Guislain, Baron) Paris, G. Engelmann’s Lithographic Workshop, [1818–1824].. Picturesque Memoirs of General Bacler d’Albe. 2 volumes in one large quarto (33 x 25.5 cm) half-maroquin with corner pieces, smooth spine (contemporary binding). First edition. 2 lithographed title pages, portrait of Bacler d’Albe by Le Guay, 202 illustrations of landscapes, scenes, city views, etc. by Bacler d’Albe, lithographed by Engelmann. The work usually contains 200 landscape illustrations. Some of these illustrations are regarded as incunabula of lithography. The painter and cartographer Bacler d’Albe (1761–1824) accompanied Napoleon I on all his campaigns. He was a great champion of lithography in France. Engelmann, in his *Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Lithography*, wrote, regarding a technique he himself had invented, reminiscent of wash drawing: ‘General Bacler d’Albe’s collection of *Souvenirs pittoresques* offers curious evidence of this change, which took place during the publication of this work. The first plates up to and including number 46 are executed in pencil alone: they lack a sense of delicacy, and the skies are rendered in a rather bare style. Plate 47 is the first that the skilful general drew after I had explained my method to him; and this plate, along with more than one hundred and fifty others that followed it, show a striking difference from the preceding ones’ (quoted by Léon Lang, Godefroy Engelmann). Restored binding (spine re-glued, corners, hinges and endpapers replaced). Washed copy. Slight water stain in the gutter on the very first folios. Tears repaired in three illustrations (one of which runs across the subject). Bibliography Not listed in Twyman. Brunet, I, 601. Graesse, I, 271. Quérard, I, 601.
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About the sale Books, Manuscripts & Antique Engravings, including the José Luis Dotti Library
Auction location
Auction time 09/23/2026 at 2:30 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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