Middle East.- Cassas (Louis François) Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie

Middle East.- [Cassas (Louis François)] Voyage Pittoresque de la Syrie, de la Phenicie, de la Palestine, et de la Basse Egypte, 2 vol., first edition, without titles as issued, only the 7pp. letterpress Prospectus present at beginning of vol.1, 180 engraved plates and maps, some double-page and/or folding, a few minor tears at folds, tissue guards generally preserving plates in remarkably clean condition, Smith-Dorrien family bookplate, contemporary red half morocco, gilt, over marbled boards, rubbed, spines faded, [Atabey 201; Blackmer 295], folio, [Paris], [1799]. *** Originally published in parts, only thirty livraisons of plates were published with much of the accompanying text and the titles never apparently printed. "The number of plates varies, but around 180 is standard. The British Library and the Gennadius Library have 180 plates, the Blackmer copy had 178 plates." (Atabey). "Cassas accompanied Choiseul-Gouffier on his embassy to Constantinople in 1784 but remained there only a few weeks. From the end of 1784 to 1787 he travelled in the Levant, more especially the Archipelago, Egypt and Syria, at Choiseul-Gouffier's expense, making numerous drawings, more than 300, which he wished to have engraved, also at Choiseul-Gouffier's expense." (Blackmer)

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