[Albert de LUYNES, Duc]. Count of VOGÜÉ. - Lot 172

[Albert de LUYNES, Duc]. Count of VOGÜÉ. Voyage d'exploration à la Mer Morte, à Petra et sur la rive gauche du Jourdain... Paris, Arthus-Bertrand, (1874). 4 volumes in-folio (36.5x 26.6 cm) including 3 volumes of text and an atlas. Publisher's binding, blue printed cover for text, blue printed boards with cloth spine and ribbons for atlas (some foxing and light staining, uncut). A fine copy. First edition of the important posthumous publication of the scientific expedition led by the Duc de Luynes to the Dead Sea basin and the interior of Jordan to examine ancient ruins and make geological and scientific observations. Work in three volumes with numerous illustrations in the text and an atlas. Volume I. The Duc de Luynes' posthumously published account by M. de Vogüe (Relation du voyage). [2] ff. (false title, title), III-388 pp. Tome II. De Petra à Palmyre, by M. Vignes, and Voyage de Jérusalem à Karak et à Chaubak, by MM. Mauss and Sauvaire. [2] ff. (false title, title), [1]-222-[3] pp. Tome III. Geological Exploration of the Dead Sea by Louis Lartet. [2] ff. (false title, title), VI-326 pp. 14 plates, 4 in color on double pages. Atlas. [1] f. (false title), 85 plates including folding maps in color, one plate on double page, 64 photogravures on steel by Ch. Nègre after photographs taken by Louis Vigne illustrating the Voyage du Duc de Luynes - and 18 plates including 14 lithographed by Eugène Cicéri illustrating the Voyage de M. Mauss. Honoré Théodoric d'Albert, Duc de Luynes (1802-1867), eminent numismatist, scholar, archaeologist and art collector. His archaeological interests led him to finance a scientific expedition to the Dead Sea, Petra and the left bank of the Jordan, in May 1864. He sought the collaboration and scientific assistance of geologist Louis Lartet of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, physician and naturalist Gustave Combe, naval officer and photographer Louis Vignes (1831-1896), Foreign Ministry architect Christophe-Édouard Mauss and photographer Henry Sauvaire (1831-1896), who had studied Arabic at the Oriental schools in Marseille and lived in Lebanon before returning to France to train as a photographer. Louis Vignes, who had been using calotypes since 1859, took many photographs on this trip. Sixty-four of them were reproduced in photogravure by Charles Nègre (1820-1880), a French painter and photographer with a passion for photomechanical reproduction of photographs, chosen by the Duc de Luynes for the quality of his engravings. Luynes died before the work was published. [Jordan].