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Hôtel des Ventes de Metz - Martin et Associés

272 - [NAVY] - PÂRIS (François Edmond, Vice-Admiral) - Memoirs of …
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Estimate €80 - €100
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Description
[NAVY] - PÂRIS (François Edmond, Vice-Admiral) - Memoirs of the Navy. A collection of plans and drawings of ancient and modern ships and boats, both extant and lost, together with the technical data required for their construction. Part 4. Paris, Gauthier-Vilars, 1889; in-plano, 40 plates mounted on tabs (some with ‘bis’ and ‘ter’ markings), publisher’s full green cloth binding, smooth spine, front cover with gold lettering. A complete set, comprising the frontispiece depicting Admiral de Tourville and the 60 plates that make up the work. Our copy contains, within the binding, 29 loose plates from other parts of this work. (Plates 58, 59 and 60, as well as plates 302 to 328.) François-Edmond Pâris, born in 1806 and died in 1893, was a French naval officer, cartographer and draughtsman. After training at the Royal Naval College in Angoulême, he embarked on several round-the-world expeditions, notably aboard *L’Astrolabe* and *La Favorite*, and later *L’Artémise*. Having risen to the rank of Vice-Admiral, he was also recognised for his work on shipbuilding and took a keen interest in the development of steam propulsion, publishing several works on the subject. His passion for shipbuilding also led him to study non-European vessels (particularly Asian ones, and more specifically those from Vietnam), which he encountered during his travels, making him the ‘father of nautical ethnography’ in the eyes of certain authors. Towards the end of his career, he was appointed director of the National Maritime Museum, where he left a substantial legacy of drawings and models. This book is perfectly in keeping with his life and work as a marine archaeologist and naval historian; it features fishing boats as well as merchant vessels from all over the world. A fine copy.
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Auction time 09/13/2026 at 2:00 PM
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