Melling, Antoine Ignace. Voyage pittoresque de Constantinople et des rives du Bosphore. Paris: Treuttel et Würtz, 1819

First edition, 2 volumes (text and atlas), folio (654 x 505mm.), half-title, engraved portrait frontispiece of Sultan Selim III, letterpress title with gold printed tughra, engraved double-page title to atlas



3 double-page engraved maps and plans and 48 double-page plates by Duparc, Schroeder, Née, Dupréel, Dessaulx, Marillier and others after Melling, modern green half morocco, spines gilt, without the engraved title to accompany the text, some leaves in text volume spotted or heavily browned and leaves towards end with damp-stain at inner blank margin

Atabey, The Ottoman World, 798

A good copy of the grandest book of engraved views of Constantinople.

Antoine Ignace Melling (1763-1831), provided the earliest interior views and plans of the harem and palaces of Sultan Selim III. After completing a number of building projects for Selim, he returned to Paris in about 1803 and in 1804 issued a prospectus for this work. Publication eventually began in 1809 and thirteen livraisons were issued, the work being completed by 1819. The outstanding success of the exhibition of the paintings on which the Voyage pittoresque was based earned Melling the title of painter to the Empress Joséphine.