Lot 166
  • 166

Description de L'Egypte

Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 GBP
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Description

  • ou recueil des observations et des recherches qui ont été faites en Egypte pendant l'expédition de l'armée française. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale [Royale], 1809-1822
  • paper
First edition, 19 volumes, comprising 10 atlas volumes and 8 text volumes bound in 9, atlases large folio (676 x 495mm.) and text folio (370 x 240mm.), all with half-titles, plate volumes with 893 engraved plates and one engraved title (comprised of 425 in Antiquités, 170 in Etat moderne, 244 in Histoire naturelle and 54 plus a title in Carte topographique), 154 double-page, 43 coloured, text volumes with 34 engraved plates and maps (comprising 3 engraved folding maps, 4 portraits and 27 plates), 2 illustrations and 10 printed tables (5 folding), uniform nineteenth-century red half morocco, gilt stamp "Bibliotheca Conoviana" on upper cover turn-in, gilt edges, library stamps on titles of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, [Atabey 343; Blackmer 476; Hilmy I, pp.239-245], a very few plate numerals cropped, spotted in places, one text map (possibly 2) bound in Carte topographique volume, bindings somewhat rubbed (with surface loss)

Catalogue Note

At the time of publication, the Description was the largest printed work ever produced. Its influence was enormous, establishing Egyptology as an intellectual discipline and nurturing a passion for Egyptian art throughout the Western World. Edited by some of the leading intellectual figures in France, the Description also includes contributions from celebrated artists such as Jacques Barraband, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, Jules-César Savigny and others.

The combined work of several dozen scholars, this "living archive" of Napoleon's expedition took over twenty years to complete. The huge undertaking was co-ordinated by the Institut de l'Egypte, founded by Napoleon and with Gaspar Monge, the mathematician, as its president. Monge and the chemist Berthollet recruited leading academic figures to join the expedition, including Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, Savigny, Méchain, Quesnot Nouet, René Desgenettes and the surgeon Dominique Jean Larrey. Of their many achievements, the discovery of the Rosetta Stone must rank amongst the most important.

It was only after Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 that Europe came to know the Orient more scientifically. In the preface to the work, Fourier explains that scholars were grappling with the mysteries of Egypt in order to restore the country from what he sees as its current state of "barbarism" to its former greatness. By engulfing Egypt with the instruments of Western knowledge and power, Fourier maintained that history would recall how "Egypte fut le thêatre de sa [Napoleon's] gloire, et préserve de l'oubli toutes les circonstances de cet événement extraordinaire". With the publication of this monumental work, Fourier's ambition was certainly achieved.