Beschreibung:

PARIS] – Paris Guide. Par les principaux écrivains et artistes de la France . Paris: 1867. First edition, one of the rare copies on China paper in a handsome custom binding. 2 volumes, octavo (190 x 128mm). Engraved armorial frontispieces, publisher’s device on titles and numerous plates including some double-page of views, caricatures and everyday scenes, with advertisements at ends (faint spotting on first few pages). Contemporary red crushed morocco, tooled in blind, stylised letters spelling ‘Burty’ blocked in gilt, vol.1 with inlaid medallion of Paris’ coat-of-arms and motto, gilt edges (slight staining and rubbing). Provenance : Philippe de Burty (1830-1890, a French art critic who contributed to the popularization of Japonism and the revival of etching, supported the Impressionists, and published the letters of Eugène Delacroix (binding) – M. E. (booklabel). Together with a related album of autograph letters addressed to Philippe de Burty, 1866-1867 and signed by Victor Hugo ('Vous êtes charmant de me faire cette demande, et je suis sage de n’y pas consentir’, 2 pages), Edouard Manet (referring to a drawing he has sent, 'en tremblant qu’il ne détonne un peu au milieu des très jolies choses que vous avez déjà m’a t’on dit’, one page), Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (2 letters and a sketched design for the frontispiece), Félicien Rops (7 letters, of which 5 affected by minor damp-staining), Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (4), Rosa Bonheur (5), Auguste Préault, Charles Yriarte and other artists and engravers who have contributed to the publication, altogether approximately 102 letters, tipped onto the pages of the album with two original drawings (by E. Morin and Emile Vernier), related illustrations extracted from the Guide and a few press-cuttings. Red morocco, titled on spine 'Paris Guide / Testimonia' (the binding rather soiled and damp-stained, the album-pages sometimes discoloured, but the letters in general unaffected).