VIVANT-DENON, Dominique - Lot 163

VIVANT-DENON, Dominique Voyage dans la Basse et la Haute Égypte, pendant les campagnes du général Bonaparte. Paris, printing house of P. Didot aîné, 1802. 2 volumes (text and atlas) large in-folio (570 x435 mm) of 2 ff.n.ch., 265, LIII pp. for the text volume: printed title, 142 engraved plates (numbered 1-41, 20bis, 54bis, plate 29 missing). Later half calf, smooth spine. See Blackmer, 471 (only the second edition of the same year, with the text in small format); Atabey, 338 (only the 3rd edition of 1807). Rare copy of the first edition of the famous travelogue. Dominique Vivant-Denon (1747-1825) was a member of the Commission des sciences et des arts that accompanied Napoleon's expedition to Egypt and remained there for thirteen months, working tirelessly on the recording of Egyptian monuments. He was the first to reveal the richness of Egyptian art to Europe and helped launch the Neo-Egyptian style in art and interior decoration, for which he was appointed director of the new Napoleon Museum (or Louvre) in 1804. His popularity led to his being republished (in a smaller format) and translated into several languages within a few years. The Description de l'Égypte, also based on the research done during Napoleon's expedition, did not begin to be published until 1809. Plates 29 and 141 are loose, some restorations notably to plate 132. Mottling and spotting. Copy from the Institute of British Architects (bookplates and stamps)