Bory de Saint-Vincent | Expédition scientifique de Morée, 1832-1836, 3 volumes of text bound in 4 and atlas

GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213

BORY DE SAINT-VINCENT, JEAN-BAPTISTE, AND OTHERS

Expédition scientifique de Morée. Section des sciences physiques. Paris and Strasbourg: F.G. Levrault, 1832-1836

FIRST EDITION, 3 text volumes bound in 4 and atlas, together 5 volumes, text 4to (350 x 255mm.), atlas folio (528 x 350mm.), half-titles, engraved medallions on general titles, illustrations in the text, atlas with lithographed portrait of Bory de Saint-Vincent and 151 plates and maps, some double-page or folding (6 maps combine to make a wall-map of the Morea, and 5 plates combine to make a panorama of the Gulf of Nauplia and Argos), 62 coloured by hand, uniformly bound in contemporary half calf, some plates and some text spotted, vol.2 lacking 2 preliminary leaves and vol.3 lacking one, bindings somewhat rubbed, some joints splitting

A RARE COMPLETE SET OF THIS IMPORTANT WORK. "THE SCIENTIFIC MISSION REPRESENTED THE FIRST ATTEMPT AT A SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF GREECE" (Blackmer). There appears to have been just one complete copy at auction in the last 30 years: sale in these rooms, 13 November 2008, lot 20, sold for £46,000. 

The Morea Scientific Expedition, commanded by Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778-1846), the naturalist, already famed for his work with Baudin in the Pacific in 1800, was subjoined to the French military force which occupied parts of the Peloponnese between 1829 and 1833. The first volume comprises the Relation, which provides an overall account of the expedition, the second covers geography, geology and mineralogy and the third volume, zoology and botany. The atlas volume maps, topographical views (including a folding panorama), geological, zoological and botanical plates. This work forms a companion to that by Guillaume Abel Blouet on the architecture, monuments and archaeology of Morea (see lot 160). Many of the original drawings for the natural history section are also in this sale (see lot 161).

This lot also includes a copy of Puillon Boblaye's Expédition scientifique de Morée. Recherches géographiques, 1836, in a similar binding.

LITERATURE:

Blackmer 169; cf. Nissen, ZBI 213 (fourth series only); cf. Weber I, 236 (Relation)