PRISSE D'AVENNES. - Lot 124

PRISSE D'AVENNES. Histoire de l'art Egyptien d'après les monuments depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à la domination romaine. Paris, Arthus Bertrand, 1878. Two large folio volumes (65 x 49 cm), [3] ff, 62 plates + [3] ff, 94 plates (of 97, not followed), leaves in brown half cloth lace-up folders, orangish boards (folders worn, laces damaged, slight foxing, on qq. plates, small marginal defects, some margins short but not lacking). First edition, two atlas volumes without text. Monumental work on Islamic art and architecture by Prisse d'Avenne. It comprises 156 chromolithographic plates (including one double-page and many in color) in two volumes, each with a title page, a title page and a table of plates. The first volume contains 62 plates devoted to architecture, while the second contains 94 plates covering drawings, sculpture, painting and the industrial arts of ancient Egypt. A rare work of "major importance [in which] Prisse recorded an impressive series of illustrations of Egyptian monuments. He was comparable to Champollion in his output, but his drawings were very different" (translated from Blackmer). According to Brunet, this work began printing in 1858, but only five issues had been published by 1862. The plates were published in 42 issues up to 1878. One volume of text was published in 1879. Handwritten annotations in black ink on verso of some plates. Provenance: Esterházy Mary bookplate (19th-century armorial label). Blackmer 1358; Hilmy II, p.138; not cited by Atabey. [Egypt].