HOUEL (Jean Pierre Laurent). Voyage pittoresque des isles de - Lot 23

HOUEL (Jean Pierre Laurent). Voyage pittoresque des isles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari, Où l'on traite des Antiquités qui s'y trouvent encore ; des principaux Phénomènes que la Nature y offre ; du Costume des Habitans, et de quelques Usages. Paris, Impr. de Monsieur, [Pierre-François Didot], 1782-87. 4 vol. in-folio (516x333), I. 1782. VIII-138-72 pl. / II. 1784. (2f.)-148-72 pl. / III. 1785. (2f.)-126-60 pl. / IV. 1787. (2f.)-124-59 pl. long-grained red morocco, gilt framing and filleting, spines with 6 nerves nicely decorated with fillets and fleurons, interior Greek framing, tabis endpapers, gilt edges (period binding). ORIGINAL EDITION of this beautiful travel book, published by the author after his stay in the islands of southern Italy. It contains 263 plates hors texte drawn and engraved by himself on copper in the wash style, numbered I to CCLXIIII due to a double plate (marked 245-246), map of Sicily Jean Houel, French painter-engraver (1735-1813), became enthusiastic about Italy following a trip he made in the company of the Marquis d'Havincourt. Among others, he was a pupil of the painter Jean-Baptiste Descamps, who introduced him to Northern painting, the architect Thibault le Vieux and the Parisian engraver Le Bas. He frequented Madame Geoffrin's salon, where he rubbed shoulders with Diderot, Rousseau, Boucher, Vien and others. In 1768, thanks to the protection of the Duc de Choiseul and Charles-Nicolas Cochin fils, Houel obtained a pensionnaire's patent for the Académie royale de France in Rome, and left Paris to settle in the Eternal City and visit Italy until 1772. A second trip took him to Sicily, Malta and the Aeolian Islands from 1776 to 1779. The plates depict landscapes, monuments and antiquities, almost always with figures to liven up the scenes. In addition to illustrations, several of the plates include architectural plans or sections, giving the work a scientific edge. 2 of the plates are maps of Sicily. The plates are printed in bistre, very often on superb azure laid paper. (Minimal spotting and small halos, or angular lacks). Subjects covered: - Plans: amphitheater, bath, stable, house, well, reservoir, temple, theater in Agrigento, Catania, Centorbi, Messina, Motyé, Segesta, Selinunte, Syracuse, Taormina, Tindare. - Views: in Cuming, Goze, Lipari, Malta, in Sicily: Catania, Messina, Segesta, Selinunte, Sperlinga, Syracuse, Taormina, Tindare; amphitheater, aqueduct, baths, library, cathedral, church, fortress, mill, palace, bridge, wine press, prison, well, reservoir, temple, theater, tomb; interiors (cathedral). - Scenes: mythology; religious ceremonies (feast day: Bara, Saint Agatha, Holy Spirit, Saint Philip, Saint Rosalie); secular ceremonies (harvest festival); customs (bathing, music, meals); work (agriculture, crafts, animal husbandry, manna, milling, freight elevator, fishing, anchovy salting, salt, sulfur); natural phenomena (earthquake). - Boards: archaeology, mythology; costumes (Albanian, Maltese); subjects (antiquities, boat, horseman, Ceres, cordelier, anthropomorphic being, Hippolytus, Juno, Minerva, coin, Penthesilea, Phaedra, wine press, well, nun, sarcophagus, traveler). - Portraits: Blaise Motta (alias Mirrino), Zenobia. SPLENDID EXEMPLAIRE IN FULL EPOQUE BINDINGS (Extremely rare condition). Blackmer, 834 / Brunet, III-350 / Cohen, 500.