Argenterie

1840 · ST19460 — Paris: L. Curmer 1840-42. First Editions. 264 x 178 mm. 10 3/8 x 7". Nine volumes. <br/> Very pleasing contemporary red cloth backed in red morocco by Weidle stamp-signed in gilt on tail of spines raised bands compartments with gilt lettering or large gilt decorative tool head compartment on each spine with sometimes blurred handwritten ink shelf number. WITH 415 FULL-PAGE PLATES HAND-COLORED AND ENHANCED WITH GUM ARABIC one in black & white including eight frontispieces all of the plates with original tissue guards one double-page map and numerous vignettes and head- and tailpieces in black & white after Bellangé Charlet Daubigny Daumier Gavarni Grandville Vernet Johannot etc. Front pastedowns with bookplate of Count Grigori Alexandrovitch Stroganov. A hint of rubbing to extremities occasional trivial scuff or small stain to boards but A FINE SET THE PLATES CLEAN AND BRIGHT WITH RICH COLORING the contents fresh and clean and the essentially unworn bindings quite attractive on the shelf.<br/> <br/> Characterized by Carteret as the "most important publication of the Curmer editions" this series is one of the major works of the Romantic era presenting as it does a panorama of all classes of French society. An adept bookseller and publisher specializing in illustrated books Henri-Léon Curmer 1801-70 attracted some of the best artisans of the day and was known for the high quality of his output. For the present work he recruited some of the most famous writers of the period--Balzac one of the main contributors Gautier Nerval Borel Janin Monnier and Sand--to delineate the various professionals tradesmen and social "types" populating 19th century France. Their text is accompanied by more than 800 images--all but one of them beautifully hand colored--by Gavarni Eugène Lami Grandville Tony Johannot Daumier Henry Monnier Meissonier and others; there are also numerous wood-engraved vignettes in the text. The profiles of the various "types" of citizens are accompanied by portraits depicting them in their usual surroundings and featuring the physical characteristics assigned by the popular pseudo-scientific physiognomic theory to that trade gender or social class. As Carteret notes "The plates are of the highest interest for the history of costumes the fashion and the clothes of all the social classes of French society at the Romantic period; all the artists from the time took part in this huge publication." Of the nine volumes five depict Parisians three cover the provinces and the last "Le Prisme" looks at everything from "Tourists in Italy" to "A University Education" and "A Woman with No Taste." This final volume was issued exclusively to subscribers; Carteret calls it an "indispensable complement" to the series and notes that it "became very rare." The present set is comprised of first issue volumes which "can be recognized thanks to the whiteness of the pages and the delicacy of the coloring which was enhanced with gum Arabic; the second issue is on tinted paper and the coloring is less meticulous." Carteret This copy belonged to Count Grigori Alexandrovitch Stroganov who was born in September 1770 in St Petersburg and died in January 1857 in the same city. A Russian aristocrat and count of the Empire from 1826 Stroganov was also a diplomat and private adviser patron of the arts and one of the most cultivated men of his time. L. Curmer unknown