Le Père, Jacques-Marie

2 volumes, folio (405 x 255mm. and 508 x 354mm.), atlas with 2 folding maps, one double-page map, one double-page plate with a view and a map, one double-page synoptic diagram, uniform contemporary French red straight-grained morocco gilt, sides panelled with roll-tooled gilt borders incorporating classical urns, torch-bearing classical figures and foliate sprays within double gilt fillets, enclosing interlocking floral sprays and central crescent motif surmounted by a laurel crown and flanked by an oak and olive branch, crescent motifs at corners, spine gilt, crescent motifs in compartments, gilt edges, blue watered silk endpapers, text volume with upper joint worn and splitting, some repairs in the atlas

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A very rare printing (we have found no trace of another copy) bound in red morocco for presentation, possibly for the author or Napoleon himself.

In 1798 Napoleon directed Jacques-Marie Le Père (1763-1841), chief engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées, and his two brothers, Gratien (also an engineer) and Jean-Baptiste (an architect), all members of the scientific expedition, to report on the feasibility of building a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Le Père presented his report to Napoleon on 6 December 1800, and his principal recommendation was a wide maritime canal with locks (a miscalculation had made one sea higher than the other between Peluze and Suez).

The work was printed by Marcel at the Imprimerie impériale in this imposing format in 1803, although the date does not appear. The text was later also largely incorporated into the Description de l'Egypte (volume I of État Moderne, 1809, see lot 45), and there was a separate edition published in 1815. However in this edition, there is an additional section (sub-section IX of section I): Considérations sur les causes des différences de niveau des mers. The maps in the atlas were also used in the Description.

Over twenty years later, Ferdinand de Lesseps, who read the text of the Mémoire in 1832, was to realise the dream of uniting the two seas with a canal without locks (it was not until 1830 that it was understood that there was no difference in the sea level between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, one of the errors made by Le Pere – “une erreur de dix metres” as Solé calls it). See Robert Solé. Les Savants de Bonaparte (Paris: Seuil, 1998).