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Francis de Castelnau
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Vues et Souvenirs de L'Amerique du Nord
Francis de Castelnau
CASTELNAU, Francis de (1802-1880). Vues et Souvenirs de L'Amerique du Nord. Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1842.
First edition of one of the rarest North American plate books and the "first book to contain a view of Chicago" (Howes). Born in London and trained in natural history in Paris, Castelnau spent the years between 1837 and 1841 traveling through North America and making a study of its institutions, people, flora, and fauna. Inspired by the travel literature of the previous century and suffused with Romanticism, Castelnau wrote with an almost Rimbaudian lyricism about the American and Canadian landscape and its Indigenous inhabitants, whose ways of life were increasingly threatened by European settlers. According to Streeter, the present work is "primarily interesting because of its plates of views of towns and scenes in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, and then in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois;" the lithographs of individuals in particular are striking and sensitive. Castelnau visited many relatively remote places which had rarely been illustrated, as well as many nascent settlements which would eventually become great cities. Only one copy recorded at auction by ABPC and RBH since the Streeter sales. Howes C-225a; Sabin 11412; Streeter sale 847.
Quarto (304 x 231mm). Half title, 35 lithographed plates, 29 of which are on India paper with neat manuscript captions and 6 of which are hand-colored (some spotting to text leaves, dampstain affecting upper corner, a few mounts toned). Late 19th-century French black half calf, spine gilt (a little wear at extremities).
Francis de Castelnau
CASTELNAU, Francis de (1802-1880). Vues et Souvenirs de L'Amerique du Nord. Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1842.
First edition of one of the rarest North American plate books and the "first book to contain a view of Chicago" (Howes). Born in London and trained in natural history in Paris, Castelnau spent the years between 1837 and 1841 traveling through North America and making a study of its institutions, people, flora, and fauna. Inspired by the travel literature of the previous century and suffused with Romanticism, Castelnau wrote with an almost Rimbaudian lyricism about the American and Canadian landscape and its Indigenous inhabitants, whose ways of life were increasingly threatened by European settlers. According to Streeter, the present work is "primarily interesting because of its plates of views of towns and scenes in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, and then in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois;" the lithographs of individuals in particular are striking and sensitive. Castelnau visited many relatively remote places which had rarely been illustrated, as well as many nascent settlements which would eventually become great cities. Only one copy recorded at auction by ABPC and RBH since the Streeter sales. Howes C-225a; Sabin 11412; Streeter sale 847.
Quarto (304 x 231mm). Half title, 35 lithographed plates, 29 of which are on India paper with neat manuscript captions and 6 of which are hand-colored (some spotting to text leaves, dampstain affecting upper corner, a few mounts toned). Late 19th-century French black half calf, spine gilt (a little wear at extremities).
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