COSTE, Pascal Xavier (1787-1879). Monuments modernes de la Perse mesurés, dessinés et décrits. Paris: A. Morel, 1867.

2° (562 x 440mm) 71 plans and views on 56 leaves, 8 of these chromolithographed, 1 aquatint, the rest engraved or engraved and etched, some folding, after Coste. (Occasional very minor spotting to a few plates, mainly confined to margins and tissue guards.) Contemporary red half morocco, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt (worn with top of spine very loose, lower portion of spine splitting, extremities rubbed). Provenance: Maxwell J. Macartney (19th-century engraved armorial bookplate).

FIRST EDITION OF COSTE'S RARE SURVEY OF PERSIAN ARCHITECTURE, including some splendid chromolithographed views. Coste had spent a decade in Egypt engaged in engineering projects for Mehmet Ali before travelling to Persia with his collaborator Eugène Flandin, as part of the French diplomatic mission there in 1839-1841. Coste had previously published Voyage en Perse in collaboration with Flandin. Wilson, p. 49; see Blackmer 415; not in Atabey.

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