Details
ART & ARCHITECTURE -- GAVARD, Charles (1794-1871). Galeries historiques de Versailles. Paris: by the author, 1838[-c.1845]. Series I-XI in 33 parts, 2° (610 x 440mm). General title with wood-engraved vignette, dedication leaf, prospectus leaf, 5 ll. of subscribers with 1p. list of contents to verso of last leaf, engraved portrait of Louis-Phillippe printed on india paper mounted with ornately decorated engraved accompanying text-leaf, 10 ll. list of plates, 8 ll. of subject index, engraved decorative introductory text-leaf to 'Galerie des Batailles', 11 series-titles and 31 section-titles (2 of which misnumbered, as usual), all with large wood-engraved vignettes. 1100 letterpress leaves, most printed within borders. 1141 engraved plates (of c.1400) almost all printed on india paper and mounted. (Variable light spotting and browning, a few sheets slightly creased, some edges chipped and frayed.) Uncut and unbound, contained in 14 20th-century cloth boxes.
A FINE WIDE-MARGINED COPY OF THIS 'OUVRAGE MAGNIFIQUE' (Graesse), including reproductions of the best French art from antiquity to 1830, and images of the Palais itself. Gavard, as publisher, editor, and overseer of plate production, seems to have thrown himself wholeheartedly into the project with at least 2 different 2° and one 8° editions issued in parallel. This complexity has meant that complete, or even near complete copies are EXTREMELY RARE. The present work also includes 2 parts of Gavard's Supplément, 'Armoires de la Salle des Croisades' and 'Tables de Bronze de la +Galerie des Batailles' with 2 section-titles, 52 letterpress text leaves and 14 engraved plates. The entire Supplément, published between 1840-1849, ran for a further 11 series composed of 160 parts. Brunet II, 1508 75; Graesse III, p.13; RIBA 3864 (Series I, sections 1-2 only, but with extensive note).
A FINE WIDE-MARGINED COPY OF THIS 'OUVRAGE MAGNIFIQUE' (Graesse), including reproductions of the best French art from antiquity to 1830, and images of the Palais itself. Gavard, as publisher, editor, and overseer of plate production, seems to have thrown himself wholeheartedly into the project with at least 2 different 2° and one 8° editions issued in parallel. This complexity has meant that complete, or even near complete copies are EXTREMELY RARE. The present work also includes 2 parts of Gavard's Supplément, 'Armoires de la Salle des Croisades' and 'Tables de Bronze de la +Galerie des Batailles' with 2 section-titles, 52 letterpress text leaves and 14 engraved plates. The entire Supplément, published between 1840-1849, ran for a further 11 series composed of 160 parts. Brunet II, 1508 75; Graesse III, p.13; RIBA 3864 (Series I, sections 1-2 only, but with extensive note).
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