Beschreibung:

GARNERAY, Ambroise-Louis (1783-1857) and Victor-Joseph ETIENNE DE JOUY (1764/9-1846). Vues des Côtes de France dans l'océan et dans la Méditerranée. Paris: Paul Renouard and Firmin Didot for C. L. F. Panckoucke, Jules Renouard and the author, 1832. 3 parts in 1 volume, large broadsheets (660 x 470mm). Half-title to parts I and III, titles to parts I and II, 73 AQUATINT PLATES, PRINTED IN COLOUR AND DELICATELY HAND-FINISHED BY THE ARTIST TO RESEMBLE WATERCOLOURS, comprising 18 large views (image size c. 320 x 460mm.) and 55 smaller views (image size c. 180 x 295mm.), most signed in pencil, possibly by Garneray. (Lacking half-title to part II and title of part III, and text pages 17-20 of part I and 7-8 of part II; plates of Brest and Quillebeuf with neatly repaired marginal tears, not affecting image, many plates with extremely light marginal spotting, a few with very slight yellowing in platemark area caused by priming with wash of gum arabic, the white pigment in the background sky of plates 1 and 3 partly discoloured, some text leaves with light foxing.) Contemporary green morocco, covers with wide decorative border composed of broad and narrow fillets between two stylised floral and foliate rolls surrounding an inner border composed from various blocks and small tools incorporating foliate scrolls, trellis-work panels and flowers, the spine in seven compartments with raised bands, red morocco lettering-piece onlaid in one, the others with similar foliate and trellis-style decoration, gilt turn-ins and edges, g.e. by J. Wright (corners very lightly rubbed). A MOST LUXURIOUS COPY ON LARGE PAPER OF AN EXTREMELY RARE WORK, not recorded in NUC. Only five copies have appeared in British auction records this century, all apparently incomplete, although the sparsity of collations and notes on the work's publishing history makes this hard to confirm. The Vues des Côtes de France was, according to Brunet, published between 1815 and 1832, in both a coloured and an uncoloured issue, each in 15 parts of four plates. The present copy has nine more plates than that in the British Library, which is uncoloured and was presumably issued in 16 parts of four plates. The copies that have appeared at auction in Britain all claim a first publication date of 1823. The present copy was issued in three parts, with all three title-pages bearing the same date, 1832, probably indicating that this was a deluxe edition published after the original parts issue had been completed. This is borne out by the fact that on two of the plates in the present copy, engraved imprints (the title of "Vue d'Etretat" and "L. Garneray del et sculpt." on the plate of St. Valery sur Somme) have been partially erased, and in the latter case, a pencil inscription added. Garneray has attempted to make the prints resemble his original watercolour sketches by using very opaque hand-finishing which sometimes almost totally obscures the engraved and colour-printed base beneath, and by adding manuscript captions in pencil (generally either "retouché par l'auteur" or " peint, gravé et retouché par L. Garneray") on most of the plates. (Four of the plates at the end of part III are similarly captioned but in a different hand.) The engravings were done by a mixture of several methods, including etching and the use of a roulette wheel. Garneray was considered a particularly authoritative marine artist even in his own day, partly because at the age of 13 he enrolled in the French navy, and served in it for ten years. The introduction to part I of the Côtes de France makes clear that the work is to be considered not only as a book of views, but also as a type of naval reconnaissance record, showing various types of foreign vessels which frequented French ports and observing minutely their behaviour under different weather and sail conditions. In 1806 Garneray's ship was captured by the British and Garneray began an eight-year imprisonment in Portsmouth, during which he returned to his