FLANDIN, Eugène. COSTE, Pascal. - Lot 217

FLANDIN, Eugène. COSTE, Pascal. Voyage en Perse pendant les années 1840 et 1841... [et] Relation du voyage. Paris, Gide et Jules Baudry, 1851. 2 volumes in-8. (4)-511 pp. 1 bl. ff. and (4)-536 pp. one folding map. Contemporary red chagrin, spine with 4 false nerves, author with gilt title and tomaison, ornamented bindings (some freckling in the first quires or at the edges, light marginal wetness in volume 1, two marginal tears without loss on the map, one of which reaches the map). First edition of this rare work. Account of a scientific mission to the sites of Ecbatane, Persepolis and Babylon by painter Eugène Flandin (1809-1876) and architect Pascal Coste (1787-1879), then members of the Persian embassy headed by Édouard de Sercey. "For almost two years, the two travelers explored most of Persia: "Camping amid ruins or deserts, among often hostile nomads, Flandin and Coste braved inclement weather and disease. (...) They camped for two months on Achaemenid and Sassanid sites northeast of Shiraz: Nakh i Roustan, Pasargade and Persepolis". This work includes a large black map of their itinerary in Turkey, Asia and Persia. Two volumes of text alone. Graesse, II, 593; Hage Chahine, 1678. [Persia].