Pascal Coste | Monuments Modernes de la Perse, Paris, 1867, first edition, maroon half morocco

Pascal Coste

Monuments Modernes de la Perse. Paris: A. Morel, 1867

FIRST EDITION, folio (559 x 423mm.), half-title and title printed in red and black, 56 plates by Muguet, Hymaly, Sauvageot, Bachelier and others after Coste, numbered I-LXXI, 7 double-page, 8 chromolithographed, illustrations in text, contemporary maroon morocco-backed cloth boards, some light spotting, extremities slightly rubbed

"Probably the single most attractive book on Persia and one of the rarest" (Ghani). Coste (1787-1879) was appointed architect to Mehmet Ali in 1818. He spent 10 years in Egypt, completing, among other projects, the reconstruction of the defences at Abukir. His work Architecture arabe was a result of his time in Egypt. The present work, together with Voyage en Perse (1842) and Monuments anciens de la Perse (1844), grew out of the French diplomatic mission to Persia in 1839-1841, on which he was accompanied by Biberstein Kazimirski.

LITERATURE:

Wilson p.49; Ghani p.630; Diba p.141