Paris, Nepveu, 1813.
6 parts in 6 volumes 12mo of : I/ xxxii pp., 163, 2 pp., 10 pp. of notice to the binder, 17 plates including 2 folding; II/ (2) ll., 186 pp., (2) pp. of table, 13 plates including 1 folding ; III/(2) ll., 190 pp., 2 pp. of table, 24 plates including 1 folding ; IV/ (2) ll., 196 pp., 2 pp. of table, 13 plates including 1 folding ; V/ (2) ll., 192 pp., 2 pp. of table, 24 plates ; VI/ (2) ll., 198 pp., 2 pp., 20 plates.
A total of 111 watercoloured plates (except 7 which remained in black).
Granite-like calf, gilt border around the covers, flat spines decorated with gilt fleurons and fillets, inner gilt border, gilt edges. Contemporary binding.
131 x 80 mm.
Very sought-after first edition of these charming volumes dedicated to Russia and illustrated with 111 engravings, almost all watercoloured by hand at the time of publication.
Lipperheide 1350.
All these engravings illustrate the customs, trades, way of life and sometimes landscapes of the Russians in the beginning of the 19th century.
Several very beautiful engravings depict the sleds, the peasant women of various provinces, the inside of yurts…
All these plates were engraved from the original drawings and from life by Damane, Demartrait, a French painter, author and editor of the Maisons de Plaisance impériales de Russie and Robert Ker-Porter, an English painter, inventor of the « Panoramas ».
A very attractive copy contemporary enhanced with watercolour, preserved in its elegant bindings from the time of publication in granite-like calf.
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