Paris, Dentu, Palais Royal; Edimbourg, 1835.
Small folio [335 x 248 mm] of: 137 pp. of text, 1 full-page portrait of Henri V, 1 facsimile of the letter of the Duchess de Berri to Sir d’Hardiviller, 28 lithographs out of pagination under silky paper. Bound in full straight-grained green morocco, gilt fillet on the covers, gilt fleur-de-lis in the corners, cipher H circled with a garland of fleur-de-lis in the center of the covers, spine ribbed decorated with fleur-de-lis, inner border, gilt edges. Contemporary armorial binding, signed by Marchant.
Extremely rare first edition dedicated to H.R.H. Madam the Duchess of Berry, of the journey of the Count of Chambord emigrated in the Highlands in 1832, during his exile that followed the 1830 revolution. Henri V’s personal copy entirely illuminated for him.
Henri-Charles-Ferdinand-Marie-Dieudonné d’Artois, duke de Bordeaux, then count of Chambord, named Henri V, posthumous son of Charles-Ferdinand, duke de Berry and of Marie-Caroline-Ferdinande-Louise de Bourbon-Sicile, born in Paris on September 29th 1820 after the death of his father and was conferred the title of count of Chambord which he exchanged in 1830 for the name of Henri V, since Charles X and the duke d’Angoulême had abdicated in his favor. He married in 1846 Marie-Thérèse-Béatrix-Gaétane, archduchess of Austria-Este, daughter of the duke of Modena François IV, and died in exile without issue on August 24th 1883 in Frohsdorf in Austria.
The volume is the work of the painter Charles Achille d’Hardiviller (1795-1835).
Disciple of David, he has been the duc de Bordeaux’s teacher, future Count of Chambord. He was linked to his fate and to the one of the duchess de Berry until the 1830 revolution, which ruined his career. His lithographic work, which started since 1821, relates the childhood of the duc de Bordeaux. We will remember of this period two portraits of the duke, one for the duchess de Berry, the other one for the duchess of Angoulême; Miss de Berry’s portrait, one of the four paintings commissioned by the duchess de Berry, representing the festivities she had given; Le martyre de S. Etienne (minister of the Interior); Jeanne Hachette (City hall, Beauvais); Le martyre de S. Donatien et S. Rogatien, for the town of Nantes.
Hardiviller engraved between 1830 and 1835 numerous portraits, among which the one of Lafayette, Sébastien Erard, Walter Scott, the duke of Reichstadt (after Tassaert). His last works bear the date 1835.
In this sumptuous volume the artist drew many times Henri V in front of Highland landscapes, alone or with someone else.
Hardiviller dedicated his book to “S.A.R. Madame la Duchesse de Berri”.
The volume contains the dedication to H.R.H. and the “Letter to Her Royal Highness Madam the Duchess de Berri to Sir d’Hardiviller” dated “Gratz October 27th 1833”.
The volume is composed of 137 pages of text written by the artist relating the journey of Henri V, of a letter engraved by the Duchess of Berry and of 29 original lithographs wonderfully painted in gouache at the time. Therefore, our copy is identical to the uncolored one of the British Library as for the number of plates bound in.
Precious presentation copy printed on large vellum paper bound in contemporary green morocco with the cipher of Henri V, count of Chambord, one of the extremely rare copies with the complete set of lithographs in sumptuous hand-coloring of the time.
The copy bears the label: “De la bibliothèque du Comte de Chambord (Henri V de France, duc de Bordeaux) né en 1820. Acquise par Maggs Bros Ltd de Londres”.
