CHOISEUL-GOUFFIER (M.G.F.A., Comte de). Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce. A Paris chez J. J. Blaise, 1782-1822.

Description

Two parts in 3 volumes folio ; quarter binding of red calf, ornamental spine with black and gilt fillets and gilt and blind tooled roll-stamp, gilt title and volumes numbering, yellow edges (binding slightly worn).

With  the portrait of Choiseul-Gouffier engraved by M. F Dien after Boilly, 3 engraved titles, 2 double-page engraved maps and 285 engraved views, maps and plans on 168 leaves, a table on double-page with the “race de Dardanus”, and several engraved head-and tail pieces.

This work consists of:

Volume I –1 half-title, 1 frontispiece-title, 2 folding maps of modern and ancient Greece, 204 pp., 126 engravings in 100 sheets, 2 head-pieces, 12 tail-pieces.

Volume II – 1 half-title, 1 frontispiece-title, (2), 346 pp., 34 engravings in 20 sheets, 1 table, 2 head-pieces, 2 tail-pieces.

Volume III – 1 half-title, a portrait of M.G.F.A. Comte de Choiseul-Gouffier by M. F Dien 1 frontispiece-title, (1), xii pp., 172 pp. (numbered 347 to 518), 125 engravings (numbered 34 to 157) in 48 sheets, 2 head-pieces, 2 tail-pieces.

Ex-libris

Published between 1782 and 1822, this monumental work of travel is a collection of engravings and maps relative to the sites of antique and modern Greece. The illustrations tend to report scientifically rests of the antique history, and the 168 full plates containing 283 engravings (maps, men, plans, views, architecture, …) are engraved by miscellaneous artists after the drawings of Choiseul-Gouffier, J.B. Hilaire, and Moreau.

After Choiseul-Gouffier’s premature death, the bookseller-publisher J.J. Blaise, who wanted to finish this monumental and magnificent work, obtained all rights to publish it. With the help of two academicians, MM. Barbié du Bocage and Letronne, he’ll publish the 3rd volume.

Notice historique on M. de Choiseul by his « colleague and friend » M. Dacier.

Passionately fond of antiquity from childhood, Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier (1752-1817) is marked by the good relationship he has with Jean-Jacques Barthélémy, the author of the Voyage d’Anarchasis.

In 1776, he embarks under order of Marquis de Chabert, for Greece on the frigate Atalante with painters and architects, He explores the Peloponnese, islands of the Aegean Sea, Asia Minor, he studies manners, habits and customs, draws ruins and monuments.

After return, rich of all these informations, he publishes an account of his travel under the title Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce. Succes is immediate.

French diplomat successor of D’Alembert at the French Academy (since 1783), he is appointed ambassador in Constantinople from 1784 to 1791, and thus he can carry on discovering Greece.

In 1792, he refuses to come back to France (because of the Revolution). He finds refuge with the Empress Catherine II of Russia, and is appointed director of the Academy of Arts and the Imperial Libraries of Russia.

He comes back to France in 1802.

The second volume of his Voyage pittoresque de la Grèce will be published only in 1809.

The third volume will be published after his death, in 1822.

Cohen- De Ricci 238; Graesse II/135; Sander 357; Chadenat 37; Lewine 111; Brunet I/1847 ; Blackmer 342.