Porte-feuille geographique et ethnographique

£5,000 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books · No longer available

Engelmann's superbly illustrated world geography is undoubtedly one of the most elegant of the early nineteenth century. The text contained in the first volume is complemented by the engraved plates and maps of the second. Australia and the Pacific are covered in the section 'Cinquième partie du monde. Océanie ou monde maritime', pp 56-76. Correspondingly, Plate LXVIII shows Aborigines of 'Nouvelle Hollande'; plate LXIX shows a group of Maori, 'Habitans de la nouvelle Zeelande'; plate LXX is titled 'Isles Sandwich, Mort du Cap[itain]e Cook', and Plate LXVII is a folding map of 'Océanie'. Copies are recorded in two Australian collections (State Library of New South Wales; National Library of Australia). Two volumes bound in one, 4to., volume 1 with hand-coloured frontispiece, 204, 46, 20pp; volume 2 comprises 88 hand-coloured copperplate engraved plates and maps (34 are maps, some folding), contemporary half calf over marbled papered boards, spine with raised bands, gilt ornament and contrasting title label with gilt lettering, mild water stain with some reddish discolouration around the upper margin of some sections of both volumes, affecting neither the text nor the plates, otherwise a crisp copy with vivid plates.

• Binding: Hardcover

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