Beschreibung:

JACQUES BARRABAND, PIERRE-JOSEPH REDOUT and others Description de l'Egypte, ou Recueil des Observations et des Recherches, qui ont t Faites en Egypte Pendant l'Expdition de l'Arme Franaise. Paris: l'Imprimerie Impriale, 1809-1813; l'Imprimerie Royale, 1817-[1830]. Bound in 35 volumes (text: 9 volumes bound in 21, folio [variously sized between 428 x 273mm. and 394 x 263mm.]; plates [format 'Jesus']: 11 volumes [546 x 710mm.]; plates and atlas ['grande-format']: 3 volumes [1080 x 673mm.]). Text : 9 volumes in 21. Half-titles, titles with engraved vignettes, bound with all blanks and provisional contents lists (all designed to be discarded in final bound form). 31 engraved plates, maps and portraits comprising: 3 portraits, 24 plates [4 folding], 3 folding maps, 10 letterpress tables, 5 folding. Original wrappers, letterpress labels on backstrips, uncut (some neatly repaired tears with occasional slight loss to backstrips), all contained within nine cloth boxes, morocco lettering-pieces. Plates and Atlas: 891 engraved views, plates and maps, 56 hand-coloured or printed in colours and finished by hand, including 14 coloured plates of birds, comprising: plates (format Jesus) : 11 volumes (1 volume text, 10 volumes plates). Text: half-title, drop-head title 'Prface Historique', 50 leaves. Plates: half-titles, 9 titles with vignettes, engraved frontispiece and 731 engraved plates and maps, 48 hand-coloured or printed in colours and finished by hand, 1 folding. (Light old dampstaining affecting about 35 plates in the second volume of plates for the 'Histoire Naturelle'). plates [grande-format]: 2 volumes. 111 engraved plates and maps, 18 folding, 4 hand-coloured, 2 printed in sepia, 1 hand-coloured in outline. (Light old dampstaining to upper inner margin of one volume, affecting about 40 plates). Atlas [grande-format] : engraved title, 48 engraved sheets, comprising: engraved general 'key' map, engraved general map on 3 sheets, engraved map of Egypt on 47 plates printed on 44 sheets]). Original blue paper-covered boards by Tessier, backstrips with red paper lettering-piece gilt (some neat repairs with occasional loss to backstrips). THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE DESCRIPTION OF ANCIENT AND MODERN EGYPT, AND AN OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT OF NAPOLEON'S EXPEDITION TO EGYPT (1798-1801). THE WORK IS THE GREATEST OF A NUMBER OF OUTSTANDING SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS BY THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT DETAILING THE RESULTS OF EXPLORATION, UNEQUALLED BY ANY OTHER NATION DURING THE SAME PERIOD. VERY RARE IN THIS FORM: A COMPLETE SET OF THE FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL CONDITION AS ISSUED BY THE PUBLISHERS, INCLUDING THE 14 MAGNIFICENT HAND-COLOURED BIRD PLATES ARGUABLY THE GREATEST WORK OF JACQUES BARRABAND. The first edition was the only edition to include the 'grande-format' plates issued unfolded, thus allowing these very fine plates to be viewed as originally intended. The present set presents the work as it left the publishers, in French boards and wrappers, with the temporary contents leaves and blanks (which are normally discarded), the set offering a rare opportunity to appreciate fully the immense scope and grandeur of this vast undertaking, as issued. The work is now one of the only tangible results of Napoleon's planned occupation of Egypt. The only flaw in Napoleon's preparations for the invasion was a miscalculaton of the Turkish reaction to France's unsolicited 'help' in sorting out its most unruly vassals, the Mamluks of Egypt. Had it not been for this, Napoleon's plan for following up military conquest by revolutionising the economy and institutions of Egypt might well have created a modern European-style state, controlled by France, at the axis of all trade between Europe, India and the East. Plans to this end involved dispatching nearly 500 civilians to Egypt, the cream of whom were about 150 men drawn from the Institut de France, and known popularly as the savants . On arrival their first task was to make a thorough survey of every aspect o