GIGAULT DE LA SALLE (Achille Étienne). - Lot 248

GIGAULT DE LA SALLE (Achille Étienne). Voyage pittoresque en Sicile. Paris, P. Didot et Jules Didot Aîné, 1822-1826. 2 large volumes in-folio, half Russian leather with corners, spine decorated, untrimmed (Period binding). A sumptuous publication dedicated to the Duchesse de Berry, which the Dutch publisher, J. F. Ostervald, has not been afraid to place above all the picturesque journeys to Sicily by Saint-Non, Cassas, Houel and Wilkins. It is decorated with 2 maps and 92 plates drawn on the spot by a large number of artists, most of them English, and engraved with aquatint. A large paper copy, with all 91 views beautifully colored in watercolor at the time. Edition of 500 copies, published in 24 issues. In this form, it is the finest and only color book to depict Sicily. Severe dampstaining with angular mildew affects all plates in the first volume but not the engravings themselves, except for 2, with the dampstaining covering the upper quarter of the last 10 engravings and the leaves describing them.