RIGAUD, Jacques (1681-1754). Recueil de cent vingt-une des plus belles de palais, chateaux et maisons royales de Paris et de ses environs, dessinées d'après nature en 1780. Paris, Strasbourg and London: Treuttel & Würtz and Deflorennes, [ca.1820].
2° (560 x 360mm). 121 engraved plates by Rigaud. (Small tear to the 105th plate, occasional light marginal spotting.) Contemporary morocco-backed boards (joints split, extremities slightly rubbed).
A fine copy of the late edition of Rigaud's most important work. Rigaud began work on this series of engravings in the 1720s, and various selections of plates were published just before his death in 1754. The work was continued by his nephew Jean-Baptiste Rigaud and a further edition appeared about 1780. A characteristic of Rigaud's work is the inclusion of animated scenes of people in the foreground of the plates in the tradition of Caillot but betraying the influence of Hogarth. Cf. Cohen-de Ricci 895; cf. Berlin Kat. 2500; cf. Millard 146.